Rights to a Smoke Free House?
I never in a million years imagined I would be in this situation. I bought a condo a couple of months ago, paid cash, moved in, started getting settled ... and then noticed a cigarette smoke smell in my walk-in closet. After a week, all my clothes began to smell slightly like smoke, and I can smell it every single day of my life, wafting up from the condo underneath mine, where the nice lady sits and smokes like a chimney.
A month ago I caught a cold, and with this horrible smoke around all the time, it turned into bronchitis. I was sick as a dog for about three weeks, and had to take a SECOND round of antibiotics to overcome the infection. I KNOW in my heart that this unwanted second-hand smoke was a major contributor to my trying to shake that broncial infection.
The relevant thing regarding future planning is that I looked into the local laws concerning this, and although there has been a lot of work accomplished in passing laws guaranteeing people's rights to a smoke-free WORKING environment, it seems not much has been done yet regarding laws protecting me, a disabled person, from being made sick in my own HOME - a "multi-family community" where my living space exists above another.
I write this to encourage anyone who reads it, and who is also involved in becoming a future planner, to seriously consider taking real action against this health hazard. For many people such as myself, more all the time as population density increases, it is a very serious problem. In the mean time, I'm calling my attorney and looking into what kind of legal action I can take against the owner downstairs, and against the condo association itself, to pay whatever it might cost to shield my living place from this health hazard. I never wanted this battle, but here it is, and I will not rest until I can breathe freely and safely in my own home.
Michael
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One possible course of
One possible course of action is to raise the issue with your condo Homeowners Association (HOA) as it relates to the cost of insurance on your building. Some insurance companies give a reduced rate for a non-smoking building (93% of all residential fires nationwide are caused by cigarette smoking). Since condo insurance is by far the biggest expense for most HOAs, this becomes a pocketbook issue for the condo unit owners. (I write the checks for the bills for my HOA, and the building's insurance accounts for almost half of our regular monthly expenses.) Sadly, though this is a health issue for you, people always seem to understand and respond better when it becomes a money issue.
This course of action works better in a small building (my condo in SF has 6 units). In a large building, it could be more problematic as a course of action... it also depends on the state and/or city you live in.
Christopher C.
Well...
...you might try under the "failure to disclose" regulations that require the condo association or previous owners to list all health hazards and other defects. These vary from state to state, and I'm not sure about your location. That might end up being your only route for recourse since there's no law against smoking in homes, as you noted. But the fact that smoke infiltration wasn't disclosed to you, a disabled person who can now demonstrate ill effects from it, could be a workable tactic.