How to Complain About Secondhand Smoke in Apartments

Talking to Your Neighbors

Have friendly conversations with all of your neighbors. Not only can talking to your neighbors help you figure out where the smoke is coming from, but you also may find out that you're not the only person having trouble with secondhand smoke in your apartment. Begin by asking the person if they smoke. If they say they don't, you might say "Have you noticed any secondhand smoke coming into your apartment lately? I've been having a problem with that." If they do smoke, ask if they smoke in their apartment. If they do, you might say "I believe your secondhand smoke is drifting into my apartment through the vents. Can we talk about some ways to stop that from happening?" Focus your efforts on the tenants in apartments that share a wall with yours. It's most likely that you share ventilation systems or have common air conditioning and heating ducts, which means these tenants are most likely the source of the secondhand smoke coming into your apartment. Branch out to talk to your neighbor's neighbors in the same way. If one of your neighbors is smoking in their apartment, their other neighbors may have noticed the secondhand smoke coming into their apartments as well. Others may have similar complaints, but be afraid to say anything. Banding together can bring more power to your message.

Explain your problems with the smoke. Rather than assume that everyone understands the dangers of secondhand smoke, before you talk with your neighbors you may want to gather some basic information about the health risks associated with secondhand smoke. Search online for brochures and information. You may find materials you can use on the websites of health organizations such as the American Heart Association or the American Lung Association. Particularly if any of the neighboring tenants have children, they should be aware of and concerned about secondhand smoke coming in to their apartments. If you have any particular health issues, you might bring those up as well. People might feel more sympathetic to someone with specific health issues than they would someone who just seems like a militant anti-smoker. Avoid being accusatory or insulting. Keep in mind that most smokers want to quit but feel powerless to do so. For example, you might say "I don't mean to step on your toes, but my daughter has asthma and the secondhand smoke is causing her serious problems. Can we work on a compromise so you can stop smoking inside your apartment?" If you're talking to someone who suddenly gets defensive or antagonistic, don't take the bait and get into an argument – it won't solve the problem and will only leave you and your neighbor locked in a tense situation. For example, you might say "I understand your concerns. I'm only trying to protect my health and the health of my family. I would really appreciate it if you would at least meet me halfway on this."

Offer reasonable solutions. Complaining about secondhand smoke in your apartment won't accomplish anything unless you help the smokers come up with an option that respects their rights while ridding your apartment of secondhand smoke. For example, if each apartment has a private balcony or patio, you might suggest that your neighbors smoke there instead of inside their apartment. If you live in a high-rise building, you might point out designated smoking areas located outside the building or on the floor. Another option may be to request that any smokers who must smoke inside their apartment do so through an open window, which would limit the amount of secondhand smoke traveling through the ducts into your apartment.

Consider sending a written letter to the smokers. Your neighbors who smoke may take your complaints more seriously if you send them a written letter. Even if they don't, the written letter provides evidence that you attempted an amicable solution before involving your landlord or other authorities. A written letter also can work if you're shy or don't feel comfortable addressing your concerns to your neighbor. Keep the tone of your letter friendly and neighborly, and stress that you would like to work out an amicable solution without involving anyone else or causing any problems. Avoid threatening your neighbor. Instead, provide reasonable solutions to the problem. Give your neighbors a deadline to respond to your letter, and let them know what you'll do next if they don't agree with you to work on the problem. For example, if you intend to go to your landlord, let them know that. This isn't a threat provided you actually follow through with it. Make a copy of your letter before you give it to your neighbor. You can place your letter on their front door – there's no real need to mail it, just watch and see that your neighbors have seen the letter or taken it inside.

Getting Your Landlord Involved

Review your lease. Your lease includes provisions regarding your rights as a tenant that you can cite in a letter to your landlord. These provisions will support your position and make your arguments more persuasive. It's possible that your lease, or other community rules incorporated into your lease, prohibit smoking in apartments. If this is the case, you definitely have the upper hand in complaining about your neighbors' smoking because they are violating their lease. Even if there's nothing explicitly stated in your lease, you can rely on the covenant of quiet enjoyment, which is implied in all leases by law. Through this covenant, all tenants agree not to do anything that disturbs or causes a nuisance to their neighbors and disrupts other tenants' rights to quietly enjoy their rental unit. Secondhand smoke is a nuisance that can cause significant health problems and impact your ability to breathe – not to mention that it damages the apartment and makes all your things smell like an ashtray.

Draft a formal business letter. Initiate your effort to involve your landlord with a formal, written letter that explains your problems with the secondhand smoke in your apartment and demands something be done about it. The word processing app on your computer typically will have a business letter template that will help you format your letter correctly. You want to keep your letter brief – no more than a page – and stick to the facts. Let your landlord know the efforts you've made to resolve the situation amicably before turning to them for help. State clearly that you understand your rights as a tenant and are asking for your landlord's help in eliminating this nuisance. Let them know that you are open to discussing all available options. Provide your landlord with a deadline to respond to your letter. A week to 10 days from receipt of the letter should be plenty of time. If you plan to do something else specifically if you don't get the result you want, let them know. Otherwise, you don't want to make threats that you don't intend to follow through with. Simply say something like "If this matter is not resolved within 10 days of receipt of this letter, I will be forced to take further action."

Get a note from your doctor, if applicable. If you have a health condition that is affected or exacerbated by the secondhand smoke, talk to your doctor about it and see if he or she will write a letter to your landlord explaining the health risk the secondhand smoke presents to you. If you have special sensitivities to secondhand smoke, you may qualify under federal laws that require landlords to provide people with disabilities reasonable accommodation. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against people who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Breathing is considered a major life activity, which means any health condition that affects your breathing – including severe allergies to secondhand smoke – constitutes a disability under federal law. Reasonable accommodations include smoking restrictions in your building, moving you to another building with smoking restrictions, or sealing off your apartment and providing it with separate ventilation.

Mail your letter to your landlord. When you've finished drafting your letter, you should proofread it carefully, then print it and sign it. Make at least one copy of your letter for your own records before sending it to your landlord. Mail your letter using certified mail with returned receipt requested. This way you have proof of the date when your landlord receives your letter. Certified mail may seem like overkill when you could just take your letter to the rental office yourself, but keep in mind that you need to establish objective proof of your efforts should your landlord refuse to work with you. If you simply take the letter to your landlord, they can later claim they never received the letter and they don't know what you're talking about – and it would be your word against theirs. When you get the green card showing that your landlord signed for and received your letter, keep it with your copy of the letter and mark the date for your deadline on your calendar.

Talk to your landlord in person. If your landlord contacts you regarding your letter, you may want to consider sitting down with your landlord in person and talking about the problems you have with secondhand smoke. While you want to assert your rights to a smoke-free home, you also should try to understand things from your landlord's point of view. Your landlord is trying to walk a thin line because they don't want to lose any tenants. However, you can point out the damage smoke does to apartments, which impacts their value. Your landlord will have to put more work into cleaning an apartment after tenants move out who have smoked there. Even if the landlord is able to charge the tenants for those damages, it still means the landlord has a longer turnaround time before they can rent the apartment again. You might want to ask your landlord if they would consider imposing smoking restrictions in your building or complex. However, keep in mind that even if your landlord agrees to do this, it may be nearly a year before the problem is fully resolved. Landlords can't change active leases, which means you'd have to wait until the smokers' lease was up before you noticed any difference in the quality of the air in your unit.

Find out if you can move to another unit. If you live in a large building or complex, and there are open units available, your landlord may be willing to allow you to move to another unit that isn't near smoking tenants. By moving to a different unit, you can transfer your lease without causing much additional expense either to you or your landlord. If your landlord has another, smoke-free unit that you can use, offer to clean your current unit after move out and try to leave it in the condition it was in when you first moved there. Even though moving is a hassle, if you're just moving to a neighboring building it's nowhere near as disruptive as moving to the other side of town.

Taking Further Steps

Contact your local tenants' rights agency. Particularly if you live in a larger city, there may be a tenants' rights agency near you that can help you with the problem of secondhand smoke in your apartment. Tenants' rights agencies exist to help you assert your housing rights as provided by federal and state law and local ordinances. Any help they provide typically is free of charge. Tenants' rights agencies also often have attorneys on staff who can assess your situation and provide you advice on the next steps you should take. If secondhand smoke is a problem for many other tenants, someone at the tenants' rights agency also may be able to help you hold a tenants' meeting or organize a tenant union in your building or complex to give you more power to assert your rights to smoke-free housing against a reluctant landlord.

File a complaint with the local housing board. If your community has a housing safety or sanitation board, they may accept complaints about secondhand smoke – particularly if you have a health condition that is exacerbated by the smoke. Some cities and counties also have passed smoke-free ordinances that may restrict smoking in rental units. If your landlord is violating a local ordinance by allowing tenants to smoke in their apartments, you can get help from the city or county to end the problem. Even without a local ordinance, the local housing board may take action against your landlord for failing to provide reasonable accommodation to you if you have a health condition or special sensitivity to second-hand smoke. When you file your complaint, bring along all the copies you have of your letters to your neighbors and your landlord, as well as any other documentation you have that supports your claims.

Raise awareness in your community about the dangers of secondhand smoke. You can find fliers and posters online that you can print out and post in common areas to help educate and inform your neighbors about various health risks associated with secondhand smoke. Check the websites of health organizations such as the American Heart Association or the American Lung Association. There also are anti-smoking organizations that have materials. Be careful that you're not creating a nuisance yourself by distributing these materials. Post them in common areas where tenants are free to post bulletins or other items, but don't litter. For example, leaving fliers on people's cars or in their doors may be seen as a nuisance or as harassment, particularly if you're continually leafleting neighboring smokers that you've already engaged about the issue.

Consult an attorney. As a last resort, you may want to consider filing a lawsuit against your neighbor, or against your landlord to force them to remedy the problem of secondhand smoke in your apartment. Most attorneys offer a free initial consultation to evaluate your case. Look for attorneys who specialize in landlord-tenant law or in local nuisance law. You may be able to sue your neighbor for creating a nuisance, or your landlord for failing to abate that nuisance. If you're a renter, you typically will want to focus on suing your landlord as opposed to suing your neighbor. Even if you win your lawsuit against your neighbor, you may have difficulty enforcing the judgement against them. Typically you can file these lawsuits in small claims court, which are designed for people to use on their own without the assistance of an attorney. However, take advantage of free consultations to get more information and advice on your potential lawsuit. You can search for attorneys on the website of your state or local bar association, which typically will have a searchable directory of member-attorneys who are licensed to practice law in your area.

Consider moving to a smoke-free building or complex. If you have the means to do so – and particularly if you're nearing the end of your lease – you may want to move to a different apartment community in your area that has a 100 percent smoke-free policy. Simply moving away may not satisfy your desire to assert your rights, but in some cases it may be the easiest solution. Even if your landlord was unwilling to help you before, if you state that you're ready to move to a smoke-free complex, they may become more interested in helping you to avoid losing you as a tenant – particularly if you've been a good tenant who paid your rent on time and never caused any problems. You can ask your landlord if you can break your lease if you've still got several months left. It may actually be cheaper (from your landlord's point of view), to just let you cut your lease and go than to make any accommodations that would be necessary for you to stay. If you find yourself having to move because of the secondhand smoke issue, bring it up to your landlord and ask for a break on any damages you would be charged, or for a full refund of your security deposit regardless of any damages. Make sure you get any such agreement in writing. If your landlord agrees to give you a full refund of your damage deposit, this doesn't mean you should leave your apartment in disarray. Clean up after you've moved all of your stuff out and make an effort to repair any minor damages you might have caused that go beyond normal wear and tear.