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Smoking

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Smoking

Postby Alicen80 » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:07 pm

My boyfriend and I rent an apartment in a 3 family house that was advertised as "no smoking". We do not have a lease and rent month to month and have been doing so for 1 year. Our landlord lives downstairs and she smokes almost exclusivly inside her apartment and I noticed smoke seeping into my kitchen the first night we moved in. My boyfriend is a smoker and I am an occasional "social smoker". The landlord saw my boyfriend smoking on our private porch and told him that she smoked inside so it was ok if he did as well just as long as he did it in the kitchen. Our upstairs neighbors apartment does not extend over our kitchen so there is nothing but a flat roof over that part of the apartment. After 6 months of smoking in the kitchen with the exhaust fan on the upstairs neighbor began complaining of smoke. She left a few nasty letters on my car and slide one under the door. I ignored them until she actually spoke with my boyfriend in the driveway and then we decided to try an experiment. We decided no more smoking in the apartment for 1 month and let's see if she still complains. For 3 weeks we smoked on our private porch and another note appeared on my car asking us AGAIN to stop smoking indoors as she was waking up every morning with a headache and smoke in her apartment. She went as far as to tell us that we had no right to smoke outside on the property as the wind could carry the smoke thru her windows. I responded to this note and informed her that we had not smoked in the apartment since her last communication with us and I was sorry about her headaches but they were not being caused by smoke coming from inside our apartment. I also informed her that we were smoking outside and could not be responsible for the wind. She left another note insisting that we could not smoke outdoors as the apartment was not advertised as a smoking residence. Again, we signed no lease and we have permission from the lamdlord to smoke outside and still inside if we wish to (though we do not). I wonder if she is smelling smoke from the landlords apartment that seeps into the common hall/stairwell. I spoke with the landlord and the landlord thinks this lady is nuts and might as well just move out. Who is in the right and who is in the wrong? This is a private owner occupied 3 family home. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Alicen80
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:47 am
Location: Westchester County

Postby cestmoi123 » Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:47 am

Not your issue. While I'm certainly sympathetic to your upstairs neighbor, if she's got a complaint, it's with the landlord, who rented her an apartment on a false premise (i.e. that the bldg would be smoke-free).

Landlord's got to decide between you and the upstairs neighbor. LL can either bar you from smoking on the property (and refuse to renew the month-to-month if you keep doing it), or let the upstairs tenant leave (and potentially be sued for moving costs, if the tenant has a lease that says the bldg is no smoking). At the end of the day, this is an issue between your neighbor and your landlord.
cestmoi123
 


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