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Smoking neighbors in non-smoking apartment building

What can I do?

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#1 TheFountain

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 06:10 PM


I have been living in a non-smoking apartment building for a little over a year now I just re-signed my lease in fact.

New neighbors have recently moved in who I believe are smoking inside their apartment, which is passing right through the wall into my apartment.

I spoke to my land lady about this, but she is kind of contradicting herself, she said she smells it too, when she is at the building, and that she also saw him walking inside the building with a cigarette in hand.

But recently she told me that her lawyer told her that she needs evidence that he is smoking inside before she can take eviction action. I assume the fact that she witnessed him walking indoors with the lit cigarette would be evidence enough, and what really seals that guys fate is the fact that the landladies son was also with her, and he also witnessed this.

My guess is she is trying to give him a chance to stop before proceeding with action, since he is a new tenant. But it is making my life unpleasant because although it isn't direct smoke, it is definitely still the particles and other toxic variables contained therein passing through my wall. It is sticking to my rugs, my curtains, my furniture, clothing, you name it, and pissing me off big time in the process.

I am finding exercise more difficult with this exposure to what I can only call third hand smoke. My respiratory output is decreasing, and I fear I might even have a strong allergic sensitivity to it.

The question is, what can be done about it? I need change and I need it soon, this is really ruining the pleasure of living here. It is otherwise a very nice, quiet place and I do not want to move. I need some legal advice.


Edited by TheFountain, 24 August 2011 - 06:31 PM.

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#2 TheFountain

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 06:34 PM

Can one of the moderators please correct the typo in the title? Thanks.

#3 Boolean

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 06:53 PM

Quite honestly, I think you're over-dramatizing the situation. How about you confront the gentleman and voice your turmoil with the smell? Most people don't give an ass rats about potential health risks, so you might as well skip that part. You don't want to seem like you've got "complaining wimp syndrome" to your landlady, or whoever else... So ask your neighbor if he wouldn't mind smoking outside in the future.
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#4 TheFountain

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 07:13 PM

Quite honestly, I think you're over-dramatizing the situation. How about you confront the gentleman and voice your turmoil with the smell? Most people don't give an ass rats about potential health risks, so you might as well skip that part. You don't want to seem like you've got "complaining wimp syndrome" to your landlady, or whoever else... So ask your neighbor if he wouldn't mind smoking outside in the future.


It's interesting that you say I seem like I have 'complaining wimp syndrome' since I ALREADY confronted this douche bag and when he got arrogant with me I told him to go fuck himself and asked him what he was going to do about it. Now kindly go smoke your cigarette and do not respond to this if your post isn't going to be useful. And you're missing the point that this is a NON-SMOKING building, which means the lease states that it is LEGALLY PROHIBITED to smoke on the property. Which pretty much gives me carte blanche to act like a complaining wimp all I want. Capice?

Edited by TheFountain, 24 August 2011 - 07:16 PM.

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#5 Boolean

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 07:47 PM

I wasn't saying you WERE a wimp, but I was saying that you don't want to come off as one. I'm curious about your social behavior, now... Did you come at him like you just came at me? Going about a situation like that is probably a poor way to make a point. If you did come across with an aggressive and not an ASSERTIVE nature, then you may want to apologize and reiterate your point. You'll want to come across as an assertive individual with a calm and collected approach.

Legally speaking you can't do much. You can file complaint with the landlord, and it would be upon their discretion to take legal action. You did not make this determination on the grounds, nor do you hold any ownership by renting. This is the sole responsibility of the rental owner. This does vary from state to state, but more often than not, you will be the losing party in this. If you feel hell-bent on this, by all means contact a lawyer. I have a good feeling that pursuing this on principal will only leave you broke, and still pissed.

And it's "capisce". :-D

P.S. I don't smoke

Edited by Boolean, 24 August 2011 - 07:48 PM.

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#6 TheFountain

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 07:52 PM

^^^

I promise you I will not be on the losing end of this because it is LEGALLY a NON-SMOKING building. Please stop responding, your posts are completely useless and unhelpful. It is obvious that you are a smoker who seeks to antagonize. Don't claim otherwise.
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#7 TheFountain

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 08:00 PM

And by the way, my land lady spoke with her lawyer because her entire family suffers from cigarette allergies and she lost a nephew recently to it. That is why her property is non-smoking to begin with. So, to tell me I will be on the 'losing end' is obviously a blatant attempt at antagonization by someone who obviously smokes and does not like being told, quite rightly, to light up else where. See, in this situation I am armed with my land ladies already potent disgust with cigarette smoke. Losing end? I think not, smoker.

#8 Boolean

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Posted 24 August 2011 - 08:06 PM

Like I said, YOU can't legally do anything. Your landlord has to. Did I not say that? Am I in crazy town?? :|?

You are a very angry person... Is it really the smoke that bothers you or is it something else? C'mon let's hug it out.

Edited by Boolean, 24 August 2011 - 08:10 PM.

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#9 TheFountain

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Posted 19 October 2011 - 09:35 PM

Update, the landlady conducted an extensive investigation and the problem has basically waned down considerably. Thankfully.
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#10 TheFountain

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Posted 20 October 2011 - 01:28 PM

Really application, care to explain why you down voted the original post? It would be much appreciated. Or are you just another disgruntled smoker?

Edited by TheFountain, 20 October 2011 - 01:29 PM.

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#11 hollon

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Posted 13 November 2011 - 06:06 PM

C'mon... I admit I'm a smoker, but I can tell you that the smoke isn't "passing through your walls and sticking to everything" or "decreasing your lung capacity". I'm a smoker (see I actually inhale the smoke) and I can still run. Not as good as I could at one time, but I would say still 60-75% efficiency. You're only inhaling the .00000006ppm of smoke that might be passing through your walls. Quit being so much of a hypochondriac and grow a pair.
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#12 Want_more_hair

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Posted 04 December 2011 - 06:42 PM

Sorry I cannot offer any help just say that I find it very rude of people to smoke in non-smoking areas. It really drives me mad not only because of the smoke but also because of the residual smell.
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#13 Arch_NME

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Posted 09 January 2012 - 11:25 PM

You can't do anything about this legally. You have no standing. It's between the landlord and the tenant. All you can do is apply pressure to the landlord to handle it by threatening to leave. However for the landlord it can be very hard (if not impossible) to win an eviction in court for minor lease violations like this. It depends on what state you are in and the local laws there. The best your landlord may be able to do is not renew the lease of the tenant in question when it comes time.

I seriously doubt that you could possibly be suffering any negative health effects from someone smoking in a neighboring apartment. If you can't actually see the smoke in the air then it's not in enough of a concentration to do anything. It's tobacco smoke not nerve gas. It's very likely these health symptoms you are experience are psychosomatic. That's not meant to be a personal attack on you but just my geniune opinion based on my knowledge of the subject.
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#14 Destiny's Equation

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 06:28 PM

C'mon... I admit I'm a smoker, but I can tell you that the smoke isn't "passing through your walls and sticking to everything" or "decreasing your lung capacity". I'm a smoker (see I actually inhale the smoke) and I can still run. Not as good as I could at one time, but I would say still 60-75% efficiency. You're only inhaling the .00000006ppm of smoke that might be passing through your walls. Quit being so much of a hypochondriac and grow a pair.


This completely ignores the fact that different people react differently to cigarette smoke.

Recently I was sitting on the paratransit bus as it was stopped outside a shopping center, reading a book and minding my own business. Suddenly my airway constricted and my lungs were in burning pain. Not sure what was happening, I looked around. Then I noticed: someone had left a burning cigarette in an ashtray outside, and traces of the smoke had entered the bus through the open door (it was too far away for me to smell it even).

I didn’t use my albuterol (because that only exacerbates my attacks) and instead popped an N-acetyl-cysteine. Over the course of the next 10 minutes the pain and constriction ended.

I thought to myself: “That individual who didn’t put out the cigarette was a selfish asshole. If he/she ultimately gets a horrible disease I won’t feel particularly sorry for him/her.”

Smokers delude themselves into believing that just because they can inhale smoke without adverse effects everyone else can too, everyone is the same. To believe otherwise would be to admit to the fact that they injure others (huge blow to the ego!).

Rapists and child abusers deny causing harm to their victims too (even to themselves). One thing all narcissists have in common is that they create their own reality.
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#15 nowayout

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 06:35 PM

I seriously doubt that you could possibly be suffering any negative health effects from someone smoking in a neighboring apartment. If you can't actually see the smoke in the air then it's not in enough of a concentration to do anything. It's tobacco smoke not nerve gas. It's very likely these health symptoms you are experience are psychosomatic.


This has happened to me and I don't think you should dismiss the OP so easily. The smell of smoke from a neighbor's apartment can be extremely unpleasant and cause a lot of stress, and reduce one's quality of life significantly for that reason alone, even if you are not allergic to it (as I am).
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#16 Destiny's Equation

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 06:36 PM

My respiratory output is decreasing, and I fear I might even have a strong allergic sensitivity to it.


Perhaps your doctor can advocate for you?

I find that people never listen to me when I tell them that something is making me sick, but when one of my doctors tells them the exact same thing suddenly they are all ears. Ad authoritatums are your friend: when dealing with illogical folks you will never get anywhere unless you stoop to their level.

#17 Arch_NME

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 07:31 PM

I wonder why people with these apparently common extreme tobacco allergies weren't falling over dead back in the early half of the twentieth century when more than half of the population smoked and were doing so everywhere without restriction. In schools, in offices, everywhere. There was a time in this country where you pretty much couldn't leave the house without being exposed to tobacco smoke.

I'd be more convinced if any of you could produce some kind of thorough scientific study on the matter rather than an anecdote where some guy who went to med school happens to share your misconception. Where is the evidence that tobacco smoke in the tiny amounts suggested here can provoke the type of extreme reactions claimed.
Again, your own experiences may be very real to you but could easily be psychosomatic reactions. Just because you reacted to a sub-dermal injection of tobacco doesn't necessarily mean your lungs will cease up from smelling 2 ppm in the air. Your brain is a powerful thing. It might make you gag when you smell raw sewage but it's not because of an allergy, it's for any physical reason at all, it's because you know what that smell is. I could train you to gag at the smell of strawberries if I showed you enough strawberry scented turds.

You should consider the very real possibility that growing up in a world where you have had the negative health effects of smoking repeatedly shown to you since childhood that something of that might be behind these reactions. I remember being shown pictures of blacken shriveled up lungs in elementary school, told about emphysema and cancer. That stuff leaves an impression. Then at some point some doctor who you see as an authority figure tells you you tested positive for having an allergy and may thus be particularly vulnerable to this god awful deadly substance. It's no wonder you go into a panic attack at the mere smell of smoke.
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#18 nowayout

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 08:23 PM

Where is the evidence that tobacco smoke in the tiny amounts suggested here can provoke the type of extreme reactions claimed.


Who the fuck cares about your perception of the seriousness of the issue? How do you know how tiny the amounts are, anyway? Why are smokers so blind to the idea that they might as well be farting in your face. Smoke smell from a neighboring apartment is plain disgusting, you are being coerced by them to live in their stink without avenue of escape, and the perpetrators are selfish assholes. Never mind the known health consequences, all that is serious enough.
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#19 Destiny's Equation

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 08:48 PM

I wonder why people with these apparently common extreme tobacco allergies weren't falling over dead back in the early half of the twentieth century when more than half of the population smoked and were doing so everywhere without restriction. In schools, in offices, everywhere. There was a time in this country where you pretty much couldn't leave the house without being exposed to tobacco smoke.


Cigarettes are worse now than they used to be (pesticides, additives, etc.).

#20 Destiny's Equation

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Posted 21 February 2012 - 08:52 PM

Where is the evidence that tobacco smoke in the tiny amounts suggested here can provoke the type of extreme reactions claimed.


Who the fuck cares about your perception of the seriousness of the issue? How do you know how tiny the amounts are, anyway? Why are smokers so blind to the idea that they might as well be farting in your face. Smoke smell from a neighboring apartment is plain disgusting, you are being coerced by them to live in their stink without avenue of escape, and the perpetrators are selfish assholes. Never mind the known health consequences, all that is serious enough.


I do not agree with that, if smoke was simply an annoyance with no health consequences then trying to restrict peoples' smoking would be laughable.

#21 niner

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Posted 22 February 2012 - 03:02 AM

Cigarettes are worse now than they used to be (pesticides, additives, etc.).

No way. The pesticides in the old days were worse; a lot of them have been banned. Not that I think pesticides or additives have anything whatsoever to do with tobacco smoke dangers.
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#22 Arch_NME

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Posted 22 February 2012 - 04:48 AM

I wonder why people with these apparently common extreme tobacco allergies weren't falling over dead back in the early half of the twentieth century when more than half of the population smoked and were doing so everywhere without restriction. In schools, in offices, everywhere. There was a time in this country where you pretty much couldn't leave the house without being exposed to tobacco smoke.


Cigarettes are worse now than they used to be (pesticides, additives, etc.).


There actually are a few brands of "organic" cigarettes now. Made with tobacco grown without those things. So, you could go down to the corner store right now and test your theory out for cost of a pack of cigarettes. If you really want to get scientific about it you could buy 2 packs, one organic one regular, get a bored friend to assist and do a blind test to see if you can even tell the difference. I'm a bit skeptical that you could; even more so than I am about this whole tobacco alergy thing to begin with.

On a side note I'd also be curious about your reaction if any to marijuana or herbal/clove cigarettes (which contain no tobacco).


Where is the evidence that tobacco smoke in the tiny amounts suggested here can provoke the type of extreme reactions claimed.


Who the fuck cares about your perception of the seriousness of the issue? How do you know how tiny the amounts are, anyway? Why are smokers so blind to the idea that they might as well be farting in your face. Smoke smell from a neighboring apartment is plain disgusting, you are being coerced by them to live in their stink without avenue of escape, and the perpetrators are selfish assholes. Never mind the known health consequences, all that is serious enough.


Yeeash... I think it's pretty clear to everyone reading that who the asshole around here is.

I didn't make any claim of special knowledge as to the exact amount of exposure. The OP and others it seems to me are asserting that any exposure whatsoever, no matter how tiny, will illicit a reaction.

Also, I'm still waiting on that evidence. If you are all done cursing me out feel free and try and locate some.

#23 nowayout

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Posted 22 February 2012 - 08:55 PM

Where is the evidence that tobacco smoke in the tiny amounts suggested here can provoke the type of extreme reactions claimed.


Who the fuck cares about your perception of the seriousness of the issue? How do you know how tiny the amounts are, anyway? Why are smokers so blind to the idea that they might as well be farting in your face. Smoke smell from a neighboring apartment is plain disgusting, you are being coerced by them to live in their stink without avenue of escape, and the perpetrators are selfish assholes. Never mind the known health consequences, all that is serious enough.


I do not agree with that, if smoke was simply an annoyance with no health consequences then trying to restrict peoples' smoking would be laughable.


There are laws and regulations restricting selfish people from intruding on others with loud music, with behavior in the street that disturbs the peace, with allowing their dogs to leave poop on your sidewalk, and so on. These do not have health consequences to speak of. According to your logic, do you find such regulations laughable?
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#24 InquilineKea

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 02:07 AM

Just buy an air purifier and it will clear out a lot of the smoke.

#25 MattJ

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 06:38 PM

I have the same problem in my apartment complex and it's very annoying. Anyone who says that you "shouldn't be complaining" obviously is a biased smoker. Even if I did smoke, I would want the smell of it in my apartment from other people.
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#26 wahynes

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Posted 07 December 2016 - 09:19 AM

Yeah.  I know what you mean.  Personally, I'm allergic to carbon

monoxide, more so than tobacco smoke.

 

My neighbors don't have the courtesy to sell their automobiles

and walk to the bus station so I don't have to choke on their

cars farting carbon monoxide past my front door when they drive

to work.

 

And yeah, besides the impact to global warming, it stinks, and

I don't like the smell.  It ruins my quality of life, after all.  But you

don't likely care about that, because you'd have to change your

life-style to do something about it, rather than have someone

else change theirs to cater to yours.  Tiny violins mocking me,

and all that stuff.

 

But oh, yeah, tobacco smoke is so much worse than that.  Sorry,

to gore your ox, and all.  This thread is all about hating on 

smokers, not drivers, so I guess I should just shut up and let the

world keep on burning a billion years of prehistoric sunshine every

decade until there's nothing left to burn or breathe. 

 

Hopefully, I don't sound too "biased."

 


Edited by wahynes, 07 December 2016 - 09:57 AM.

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