Smoking in a Non Smoking Building

[Lee Lewis]

First..I am a tenant in the city of Chicago. I am hoping to get some owners feedback. I live in a non smoking building. There  are a few general signs and an occasional email when people complain...bottom line they really dont enforce it. Someone in a neighboring apt (dont know which onr) smokes weed almost every night. It doesnt start til after 9 so I cant have building staff to come up to smell it. What are my rights? How should the building be handling it? I have several months left on my lease. (Its a mgt company..not a big one) thank you

[Benjamin Aaker]

That sounds very frustrating. Start by communicating. Speak with the property manager and the tenant who is offending you. This might handle the problem. You do need to rely on the property manager to enforce their non-smoking rules.

Practically speaking, from a landlord's standpoint, it is difficult to proactively enforce a smoking policy. It's difficult to prove, you can't force your way into the unit to find the smoking cigarette, you don't always know where smoke is coming from. It usually takes the support of other tenants to fully remove the problem. With weed, you run into issues of medical marijuana and people making claims of medical necessity. Your local ordinances/state laws will have something to say about that.