I live in a condominium complex. I love living here because of its location which makes it accessible to everything.
The weather has been pleasant as we move from summer to autumn and I like to keep the windows open to enjoy the nice breeze early morning and in the evenings when the sun goes down.
The neighbor below us is a smoker. He often sits on the balcony and smokes. I believe he is a renter where as I am an owner. At times you can hear his bad cough from constantly smoking. The smell if quite strong and offensive and almost immediately my living room starts to smell really bad. I immediately have to shut all my windows and that smell permeates the living room where we have a sliding door to the balcony. I start coughing when I inhale the smell. I am really sensitive to the smell as it makes me feel sick. I feel forced to leave my windows closed all the time and run the air conditioning instead. At night I like to leave the windows open before going to sleep to enjoy the nice breeze. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night by the smell of cigarette smoke as he steps onto the balcony. He seems to live on his balcony. Sometimes he has friends over and they sit and talk on the balcony late into the night. The walls are very thin.
A neighbor in the community once complained about another tenant regarding the same issue and the response she got from management is that we have nice benches in the community if you would like to enjoy fresh air. I feel if I make a complaint I will get the same response.
My question is do non smokers not have rights to breath fresh air? How would you address this issue with the condo association? Thanks in advance for any advice you would be able to offer. I just feel if he has the freedom to enjoy the fresh air I should also have that right. Our condo generally tends to stay warm. It could be 70 degrees outside but insider it feels much warmer. It would be nice to not have to close the windows and put the ac on.
Unfortunately, with smoking and ‘smokers rights’, things lean heavily against you unless the complex has rules about smoking. In a perfect world, the guy would be nice and understand that the smoke from his cigarette was smelling up your apartment, but what you likely will get is him telling you it is his right to enjoy a cigarette in his own home, that you are just ‘hypersensitive’, that it isn’t that bad (one thing with smokers, when they quit finally, and smell smoke with non dulled senses, they suddenly realize how foul it is). I remember the vehemence when cities and towns started issuing bans against smoking indoors, how smokers howled about their ‘loss of freedom’, bar owners claimed how it would ruin them, put them out of business, and what they figured out after the fact is a)they had a lot less cleanup to do, all the foul crap that smoking leaves behind and b)they gained more than they lost, that people who wouldn’t go when they allowed smoking went.
I suspect you will end up having to accommodate his addiction and keep your windows closed when he is there smoking, sadly the freedom to smoke still outweighs the freedom of others not to have to smell it. I would bet good money you are going to see responses, or I, that we breathe all kinds of pollution, that cars put out pollution, people fry smelly food, etc…(of course, leaving out that you could breathe the emissions from a tailpipe and the concentration of noxious gases are something like a thousand times less than what comes off a cigarette, not to mention that cigarette smoke spreads much further than tailpipe emissions, and also is a lot more toxic and leaves toxic crap as a film on everything it touches). You could try talking to the guy, but I doubt he will be very nice, hardcore smokers like that rarely are IME.
Thanks musicprnt for your response. Yes perhaps I am sensitive as my eyes start watering. We always hear about the dangers of 2nd hand smoke but as I was making this post I felt that I had no recourse. I feel I can’t put any furniture or plants on my balcony and make use of it. Condo rules don’t allow us to have grills on the balcony because it is a fire hazard but a fire could also be started with a cigarette.
Jym626 I can find out from the condo association. We have had this issue before with different renters below.
The condo owners below may not be allowing him to smoke inside so maybe for this reason he uses the balcony.
Our solution is to close the windows. Since we live in a closed space I like to leave the windows open when cooking so that the air gets cleared. I have always had a preference for fresh air vs put the ac on.
Here’s another thought… if you have a patio directly above his, plant some fall plants (vegetables, herbs, etc) and fertilize them with very very stinky fertilizer-- then water them and be sure the water overflows… Rinse and repeat…
Have you tried a conversation with the neighbor? You won’t know what he’ll say until you speak with him.
Otherwise contact the condo owner to see if the tenants lease says anything about smoking. If not with this tenant, maybe with the next one they could add a no smoking in the unit and balcony.
Unless your condo association has rules about smoking, then no, they won’t be able to help. There is likely rules about noise after certain hours.
@doschicos
I have lived in a single family home and have downsized. I love the community because it is gated and close to everything. (prime location) It is great if you have peaceful neighbors and its low maintenance.
The negative part is bad neighbors. For example we have a renter on the floor that has a huge dog that is not trained. Whenever he is taken out of the condo he barks really loud. It is common to hear loud barking in the hallway between 10pm and midnight when they take him out. He also barks continuously outside which can be heard by everyone. I am little scared of the dog as it looks like it is ready to attack. We have lots of dogs in the community but there has never been a problem. We have another renter with two little kids who get claustrophobic at home so the mom lets them run up and down the hallway and use it like a playground. Sometimes the older one is rough with the younger one so you will hear crying in the hallway. Our upstairs renter has hardwood floors it sounds like a 300 lb person up there walking. He slams the door whenever he enters his home. We have had leaks from the condo above. So these are things to consider if you think of moving into a condo or apartment complex. Because we live in a prime location many real estate agents bought condos as investment properties here. The neighbors that have been living here a long time and own their unit are great. The issue is usually with renters. I moved to this area because of the great schools and location. The area is growing and I am hoping in another year the property values go more up so that we can sell this home and make some money. We are next to the highway, malls, and walking distance to the metro and grocery stores and banks. On the weekends it is really nice when all the commercial traffic is gone. It’s a beautiful up and coming place. The new condos being built are very expensive. For example the new three bedroom apartments are renting for $6500/month. Ours is no where near that. Because we have a commercial district about 2 miles away there is a demand for housing in this area. People are constantly moving in and out. It’s becoming a place to live, work, and have fun.
I haven’t approached the owner/renter because I didn’t want there to be tension or problems from making a complaint.
What would you say? Please don’t smoke on the balcony because it stinks. I don’t know how they would take it.
Will take this as a reminder as to why I hate to live in too-close situations!
I just don’t think you have any choice but to stay closed up tight. He has a right to smoke on his balcony, period. As much as all of us non-smokers hate the drifting smoke, it cannot be controlled.
Find out if the law is on your side, but I would cook my favorite food that I don’t eat it ever. It’s one of the most stinking food in my culture and have the door open, when this neighbor smokes. If he comes over and complains, you know what to tell him.
Sooo… if you have stinky fertilizer that drips over the balcony, he can come up to talk to you about it and you can say “oh I am so sorry I didn’t know the smell bothered you, but while you are here…”
I think you should write the neighbor a civil note and explain that his cigarette smoke rising up from the balcony comes straight into your apartment, something that he likely does not realize, and that it really bothers you physically, and ask him if he could refrain from smoking on the balcony during “open window” season.
I would NOT say anything about stink, his cough, or his friends. The major points should be
The smoke comes straight into your apartment
It makes you physically ill
He is probably unaware of this
You are sorry to have to ask this of him and would be extremely grateful if he could accommodate you.
You should be very nice and you should NOT point out that he is a renter and you are an owner. Don’t get his back up.
This gives him time to think about it and go through any kneejerk reactions before he responds to you. If his response is not what you had hoped, you can tell him that since he is unwilling to compromise, you are sorry but you will have to contact his landlord.
Are you active on your condo board? The boards can wield tremendous power when they review and revise the CC&R’s. I’m not sure if they could ban smoking on balconies but it’s worth looking in to. At my mom’s condo complex they had rules for everything imaginable. Turnout for board meetings was low so important decisions were made by a handful of owners.
What about purchasing one of those industrial sized fans (a really big one) and set it in your doorway when he starts to smoke? It might push enough of the smoky air away from your condo to make it bearable. Or at least it might be so annoyingly loud that the smoker would go inside.
I don’t think there’s a thing you can do if the condo allows smoking on balconies. There probably are rules about how much noise you can make and at what hours though.
I feel your pain, our neighbors smoke and our houses are very close together. For some reason the wife likes to come out the side door between the houses and get on the phone and smoke. If she went out any other door it wouldn’t bother us a bit. We’ve talked to her, but she just gets on the defensive. She certainly has the right to smoke anywhere in her yard. I really miss the previous neighbors they were quiet and we never saw them.
Your American Lung Assoication or local Department of Health, Tobacco Prevention and Education Division/Branch should be able to have staff with “toolkits” that can help address this issue at your Condo Board level if the nice, civil note to the neighbor smoker produces no results. The toolkit can help condos and other dwellings come up with policies dealing with this important health issue of 2nd hand (and 3rd hand) smoke. You can PM me if you’d like and I’ll send you the link to our DOHealth’s toolkit info. It has helped our state’s public housing go totally smokefree (leading the nation), as well as other interested condos and apartment buildings. When housing is so close together, it is important for people to realize that their smoke does travel and affect the health of others, such as yourself. There is no constitutional right to smoke, but the building needs to come up with rules in the correct manner if it wants to do it.
Maybe a fan on your balcony, diagonally pointed down to the balcony below. Or two fans, one at each end. Get one with a remote control. As soon as you smell smoke, turn them on high and maybe it will blow back and away.
Also, while he has a right to smoke, you also have a legitimate quality of life issue of your own. I would go to the condo board meetings and bring it up. And also bring up the other issues that have been bothering you. I’ve lived in apartments where you were required to have at least 50% of your floor covered with rugs so the noise would not bother the downstairs neighbor.
Condo boards do not like renters because if the percentage of renters is high, it brings everyone’s property values down. They are perfectly capable of passing bylaws that say “no more renters who smoke, who have pets, etc.”. And children running and playing in the hallway is a no-brainer. It is a safety hazard and shouldn’t be allowed. I heard a story once of someone who wanted to let his cat run around the common hallway for exercise. What a brainless idiot!
