How Smoking Bans Affect Property Managers and Landlords

Everyone knows smoking is hazardous to your health.

Yet 45.3 million Americans still continue to smoke each year.

Recently many states including California and Colorado have gone as far as to ban smoking in residential areas. This is groundbreaking and can have a huge effect on property managers and landlords in those residential areas. Now potential tenants that smoke are drawn away from living in residences that ban smoking such as apartment units which are close together. 

Still, while many potential tenants are drawn away by a non-smoking residence others are eager to live there and view it as an amenity. If you are a property manager or landlord and you are forced to ban smoking at your property treating it as a benefit of living there is the right move.

A recent study conducted by The Department of Housing and Urban Development found that 38% of potential tenants prefer smoke-free housing and half of all renters are even willing to pay more for it.

Another benefit to property managers and landlords who ban smoking in residences is cost savings. Smoke-free apartments are easier to clean between renters, with less smoke-stained walls and lingering odor, and have a reduced risk of fire. These added cost saving benefits are something to think about when deciding how to handle residential smoking ban violations.

When someone lights up a cigarette, the smoke filters through ventilation systems, pipes, walls and ceilings, electrical sockets and even cracks in plaster which creates a health hazard.  Property managers and landlords should weigh out these concerns before deciding whether or not to ban smoking in their properties.

The fact is if you are a land lord or property owner, smoking bans bring forth controversy and are difficult to enforce. Many smoking-rights groups fight smoking bans in apartment complexes, on a wide range of legal and philosophical grounds. Some groups are making the argument that smoking bans in apartment complexes discriminate against low income families that want to smoke but can’t afford to live in a house. Other groups oppose bans claiming that it is another instance of lawmakers trying to force the non-smoking agenda, claiming that what they do with their body should be their own right. The smoking ban is also a privacy issue that is very hard to enforce as tenants could smoke in their rental property and the property owners or landlords would often never know.

If you are a property owner or landlord you should weigh out all the pros and cons of having a smoking ban on your property. The tenants are sure to have their own opinions on the matter.