I am thinking of adding a \u201cno smoking\u201d clause to my lease.\u00a0 Do not get me wrong, I am not trying to be a nanny and say you should not smoke, quite the contrary.\u00a0 I firmly believe that if you want to smoke you should be able to.\u00a0 So why would I want to ban smoking in my properties?\u00a0 It is simply because it affects my bottom line.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it, smoking is a dirty habit.\u00a0 When a tenant sits in their apartment and smokes, all of that smoke, tar and nicotine ends up staining my walls. \u00a0\u00a0When the tenant moves my paint crew<\/a> simply has to spend more on primer to cover these stains and thus more time on the job.\u00a0 This time and material affects my bottom line.<\/p>\n The smell is also pervasive.\u00a0 I get complaints from other non-smoking tenants about the smell drifting into their apartment.\u00a0 When the tenant moves out, even after a complete paint job, the smell can still linger.\u00a0 Many times we have to use an odor blocking product so that prospective tenants will not be turned off by the smell.\u00a0 This treatment further affects my bottom line and frankly I would not mind reducing the number of complaint calls.<\/p>\n Burns are another problem.\u00a0 It does not matter how careful the smoker is, at some point they are going to drop a lit cigarette on my floor.\u00a0 Aside from the fire hazard posed, I now have to contend with burn marks.\u00a0 Sometimes carpets have to be replaced, other times portions of hardwood floors have to be sanded and re-stained.\u00a0 This all affects my bottom line.<\/p>\n Finally, I get tired of walking around my properties and seeing discarded cigarette butts on the sidewalk, on the lawn, in my newly mulched flower beds, basically all over.\u00a0 Someone has to clean all of that up, again adding time and expense and affecting my bottom line.<\/p>\n According to the Centers for Disease Control<\/a> the percentage of smokers is down to just above 19% of the total population.\u00a0 That leaves over 80% of the population for me to work with.\u00a0 While I do not think I could have successfully implemented a non-smoking policy a few years ago, with recent trends I think it may be the way to go.\u00a0 Again this is not because I am a nanny, but because of the affect on my bottom line.<\/p>\n Let Me Know Your Thoughts<\/b><\/p>\n So what say you?\u00a0 Has anyone else adopted such a policy with or without success?\u00a0 \u00a0Do you see non-smoking policies as a trend?\u00a0 Would you or are you thinking of implementing such a policy?\u00a0 Smokers are not a protected class<\/a> so it can be done.\u00a0\u00a0 I know some local jurisdictions are trying to ban smoking in apartment buildings, but I think that is wrong as the decision should be left up to the owner.\u00a0 Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.<\/p>\nFewer and Fewer Prospective Tenants Are Smokers<\/h2>\n