Smoke-Free Rental Properties
Meet Demand and Reduce Costs
Landlords everywhere are discovering the joy of implementing non-smoking policies in their rental properties. Imagine countertops and vanities free of smoke burns; carpets with no melted fibers; walls without nicotine stains. And the lack of cigarette odors! Why wouldn’t a landlord prohibit smoking in all rentals?
Check out these numbers from a recent survey of renters:
- Three-quarters would rather live in a smoking-restricted building, "other things being equal."
- 52% would even pay extra rent to live in a smoking-restricted building.
- 42% would feel uncomfortable renting a unit next door to a smoker.
- Three-quarters say it's okay for landlords to prohibit smoking inside rental units to keep secondhand smoke from drifting into other units.
- Only 26% currently live in a building with smoking restrictions.
- More than a third of renters in multi-unit buildings are regularly exposed to a neighbor's secondhand smoke.
- Most renters don't smoke and many smokers smoke outside their units.
- Three-quarters of renters don't smoke at all.
- 19% of renters smoke daily—but only 11% of renters smoke inside on a regular basis.
Smoking is down across the United States—so it only makes sense that most of your potential tenants don’t smoke, and don’t want to deal with a previous tenant’s left-behind smells and stains. Smoke gets into carpets, drapes, and walls—and no matter how much cleaning you do when a smoker moves out, the smell lingers on.
When you implement a no-smoking policy, the expense and trouble of eliminating cigarette odors vanishes. You’ll save on paint and cleaning.
Smoking damages rental units. Burn marks in carpet; nicotine stains on counters where smokers “rest” their cigarettes; holes in vinyl flooring where a cinder landed. Fixing the damage is expensive and time-consuming. Who needs it?
A no-smoking policy means less replacing of carpet, vinyl flooring, and countertops.
Smoking is a danger to other tenants. While no laws specifically protect tenants from others’ second-hand smoke, if a tenant or their child suffers from asthma or other respiratory disease, they might qualify for protection under the Fair Housing Act. This could trigger legal action against the landlord. It’s easy to eliminate this possible liability.
A smoke-free building keeps all of your tenants safe from second-hand smoke.
Smoke-free housing is in demand. Just as hotels and rental car companies meet non-smokers’ demands with smoke-free rooms and cars, so can landlords meet this demand—and rise above the competition. In this difficult rental market, landlords need every advantage they can get to entice tenants to sign a lease. A large market wants smoke-free housing—and you can provide it to them.
No-smoking polices are legal. Smokers are not a protected class, and nobody has a “right” to smoke—it’s not like disabled tenants, who have a right to access, for example.
Remember—restricting smoking in your rental housing not only keeps your expenses down, it’s good for your tenants’ health. And that makes it a winner for everyone!
Source: Smoke-Free Housing Project