smoking new tenant without consent- landlord says he’s done nothing wrong

Hi Tucker–

In Utah there is a smoke free act that landlords may or may not participate in. If the landlord has established a smoke free rental property the following would be true:

1) Smoking inside of unit would be illegal (not just a breach– it would actually be illegal due to the Utah Clean Air Act)
2) Smoking outside of unit / again, illegal.
3) Smoking in parking lot, or sidewalk, also illegal.

The problem is that if the landlord willing accepted other tenants that smoke, then it is clear that the landlord is not providing a smoke free property under the clean air act. IF the landlord advertised the property as a smoke free property, then he would be in breach according to the Utah Statute.

It appears that you are making the assumption that the landlord was providing a smoke free rental property due to the verbiage in the lease the prohibited you from smoking. However, the smoke clause in the lease is a generic lease statement that does not make the landlord automatically responsible to the smoke free requirements stated under the clean air act.

Think of it like this. If a landlord prohibited you from having a pet, does that mean that all other tenants can’t have pets– nope! The landlord can make that decision for each tenant. There is no such thing as a property wide lease standard. Meaning that every single lease can be different for every tenant, even if the apartments are identical. The rental contract is agreed by you and the landlord and that’s it. Whatever you agreed to is the law. (as per contract law) You had right to dispute the agreement or to clarify the agreement and did not.

I don’t see how you can try to hold your landlord responsible to the clean air act, if he has not agreed to be a smoke free property. All of my properties (in Salt Lake City) are part of the Utah Clean Air Act. However, not all landlords are willing to jump on board. One of the reasons landlords choose to not make their property “Smoke Free” is due to the cost to rehab an apartment that has been previously smoked in. Its much easier / cheaper to find another smoker to rent the apartment than it would be to convert it to a smoke free unit.

Your landlord appears to have multiple types of units. Both smoking and non-smoking. You still have the right to go after your neighbor for his smoke drifting into your unit, but you will have a difficult time trying to hold the landlord responsible for drifting smoke.

Not sure if you have much of a lease violation or not. Most likely not.

Smoking in the vicinity of non-smokers, inside, outside, upside down is like peeing at one end of a pool. A tenant can have a pet and no one could know it if the owner is responsible. I lived in an apartment in a house, and smoke from other apafrtments was definately a problem. Umm! Second hand smoke. Umm, Umm! Stale, second hand smoke. Right and wrong aren’t always reflected in the legal system, I guess.

I currently live in an apartment where two out of the four roommates smoke inside. The last two roommates that moved in (me and the other non-smoker), were not told that cigarette smoking indoors would be in practice everyday, all day! I have addressed the issue verbally and even wrote letters to my current roommates. I feel that I should’ve been warned about this habit before moving in. I’ve had severe asthma since I was a kid and haven’t really had problem with it until I moved into this apartment. I’ve had two asthma attacks and have started spitting up yellow mucus in the mornings.

Is there any type of law in Illinois that can help me out in any way because apparently, the cigarette smoking indoors is not going to stop.