Can I be sued for this?

[Sunnyd8877]

Thank you Quincy

That was a very insightful post. I appreciate your honesty and legal know-how.

I have not moved out yet. I will be moving out before the end of the month. The office is closed on weekends and I was told I had to turn in my key by Friday, July 29th or else I would have to pay for the entire month of August.

The place I am moving into won't be available until after August 3rd.

 

[quincy]

... if he was willing to work with me to resolve the situation, I would have stayed and lived there years.

Some landlords might find it cheaper and easier to ignore, or even to remove, a complaining tenant rather than to take the tenant's complaints seriously. If a tenant's complaints have good basis, the landlord is remiss in not handling them in an expeditious manner.

I hope you find your next rental a place you can settle into happily for years, Sunnyd8877.

Thank you for the thanks.

 

[Sunnyd8877]

Yeah

My parents were chain smokers when I was young. My father died of lung cancer because of the habit. Over the years I developed allergies to cigarette smoke of any kind.

I moved into an apartment where the previous tenant was a smoker. The walls were covered with tar. I made two complains to two separate people who worked in the office about the smell & they both told me to turn on my air conditioner and air it out. One of them even compared the smell of cigatette smoke to bad cooking odors like curry. I explained it was not an odor thing.. It was a health thing because I was allergic to cigarette smoke and had a history of lung cancer in my family. I gave him a Health & safety noncompliance form.

He told me they could use an ozone machine & paint it and that's it. He refused to pay for my three day hotel stay while he used the machine & painted because he claimed he could not smell it. He did not deduct any rent either.

Everything was great for a few days..
Then I turned on my air conditioner and the smoke got worse. When I opened the unit, it was covered with tar!!! The insulation around the unit smelled like nicotine. So gross.

Not wanting to be "that tenant" I paid $409 of my own money to get the unit professionally cleaned.

They cleaned the unit, but the insulation and the walls surrounding the unit still contained the cigatette residue and when I turned on the air the whole apartment still smelled like an ashtray.

I made another verbal complaint. Showed Property manager pictures of the tar covered unit. He said "I had no idea the unit was in this condition." I showed him the receipt and told him I was willing to work with him to remove the issue and asked him to meet me halfway.

He claimed there was nothing he could do other than the ozone machine. I told him I developed chest pains, headaches, smokers cough, and had bronchitis since moving in. (Bronchitis twice). He acted flustered and again clsimed there was nothing he could really do and then said: "you can't really prove that the cigatette smoke is causing all these Heath problems."

Ummm.. My doctor disagreed.

To make matters worse, the landlord was telling other tenants about my complains. I was getting harassed, they were calling me names and a group of them started to smoke in the common area outside my unit.

One guy shared a hallway with me and would open his door with the fan pointing out toward my door. The smoke would enter in the cracks around my door.

Finally, I contacted a lawyer. He spoke in expensive circles for an hour and after looking at my options the cheapest would be to pay the fees and move out.

I know I have rights, but I can't afford to get into a expensive legal battle with a large property management company that has unlimited time, financial resources & lawyers.

This is what frustrates me. I want to leave a negative review but I am afraid of being suid by them.

I am allergic to cigarette smoke. But many people have sensitivities to smoke. We have smoking and non-smoking hotel rooms. Many restaurants have banned smoking. The smell depreciates the value on houses in the market and items sold online.

I can't be the only person who has felt this way. Who is holding them accountable to minimum standards or air quality and sanitation?

 

[Zigner]

Who is holding them accountable to minimum standards or air quality and sanitation?

I doubt that the unit fell below the "minimum standards of air quality and sanitation" (whatever those may be...)

Out of curiosity, did you have any professional sampling of the air in your unit performed?

 

[quincy]

My parents were chain smokers when I was young. My father died of lung cancer because of the habit. Over the years I developed allergies to cigarette smoke of any kind.

I moved into an apartment where the previous tenant was a smoker. The walls were covered with tar. I made two complains to two separate people who worked in the office about the smell & they both told me to turn on my air conditioner and air it out. One of them even compared the smell of cigatette smoke to bad cooking odors like curry. I explained it was not an odor thing.. It was a health thing because I was allergic to cigarette smoke and had a history of lung cancer in my family. I gave him a Health & safety noncompliance form.

He told me they could use an ozone machine & paint it and that's it. He refused to pay for my three day hotel stay while he used the machine & painted because he claimed he could not smell it. He did not deduct any rent either.

Everything was great for a few days..
Then I turned on my air conditioner and the smoke got worse. When I opened the unit, it was covered with tar!!! The insulation around the unit smelled like nicotine. So gross.

Not wanting to be "that tenant" I paid $409 of my own money to get the unit professionally cleaned.

They cleaned the unit, but the insulation and the walls surrounding the unit still contained the cigatette residue and when I turned on the air the whole apartment still smelled like an ashtray.

I made another verbal complaint. Showed Property manager pictures of the tar covered unit. He said "I had no idea the unit was in this condition." I showed him the receipt and told him I was willing to work with him to remove the issue and asked him to meet me halfway.

He claimed there was nothing he could do other than the ozone machine. I told him I developed chest pains, headaches, smokers cough, and had bronchitis since moving in. (Bronchitis twice). He acted flustered and again clsimed there was nothing he could really do and then said: "you can't really prove that the cigatette smoke is causing all these Heath problems."

Ummm.. My doctor disagreed.

To make matters worse, the landlord was telling other tenants about my complains. I was getting harassed, they were calling me names and a group of them started to smoke in the common area outside my unit.

One guy shared a hallway with me and would open his door with the fan pointing out toward my door. The smoke would enter in the cracks around my door.

Finally, I contacted a lawyer. He spoke in expensive circles for an hour and after looking at my options the cheapest would be to pay the fees and move out.

I know I have rights, but I can't afford to get into a expensive legal battle with a large property management company that has unlimited time, financial resources & lawyers.

This is what frustrates me. I want to leave a negative review but I am afraid of being suid by them.

I am allergic to cigarette smoke. But many people have sensitivities to smoke. We have smoking and non-smoking hotel rooms. Many restaurants have banned smoking. The smell depreciates the value on houses in the market and items sold online.

I can't be the only person who has felt this way. Who is holding them accountable to minimum standards or air quality and sanitation?

If the apartment units and premises were designated as non-smoking units/premises when you signed your lease, and all of the other tenants residing in the units signed leases after a smoking ban went into effect, you could have a legitimate complaint.

But not all places are non-smoking nor are all places required to be non-smoking. Smoking is still legal. There is no law that prohibits smoking in most private places. The owner of the property generally gets to determine if smoking is allowed or not (some exceptions apply).

Although Wikipedia is an iffy-at-best source and I do not guarantee that what is written is completely accurate, here is a link on smoking bans in the US:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States

I don't think anyone at this point will argue that smoking doesn't cause health issues for both those smoking and those who must breathe the same air as the smoker. The evidence is pretty convincing that tobacco smoke is harmful. But where smoking is legally allowed, those who are allergic to smoke or sensitive to smoke must either avoid those areas or suffer.

I hope you checked to make sure your next rental was a non-smoking rental (preferably recently built) before you signed the lease.

 

[Sunnyd8877]

:d

@Zigner,
Under the landlord/tenant act, the landlord is required to fix anything that renders air, food or drink unwholesome or detrimental to health. (did I mention that I turned on the exhaust fan above the stove and cigarette ashes fell into my food?).

I contacted an air quality specialist in my area. He had excellent reviews and was willing to write letters and be used in litigation if necessary. He told me he could do the tests and they would cost around $1000. He could write a letter for my landlord explaining all of the repairs that were necessary. Since this is an older building, chances are my air conditioning unit was attached to units belonging to smokers. He expected the repairs to be several thousand.

The landlord would have three options. 1) Let me out of my lease. He told me landlords are not very willing to do this. 2) Move me to anther unit. He warmed me that the landlord could move me to a different unit, but the smell of the smoke would be just as bad or there could be something else wrong with the unit. 3) Landlord could repair the unit. If the landlord repairs the unit, he will make your life miserable for the remainder of your lease and you won’t want to live there with that tension.

He advised me to save my money and use it to break my lease because it was really a no-win situation for me.

@Quincy,
My apartment unit is not located in a non-smoking apartment complex. There are non-smoking apartment complexes under this management company and I did ask my landlord if I could transfer my lease to a non-smoking apartment complex under the same management company. He told me they are not allowed to do that because all of the properties have different owners.

The air quality specialist that I spoke to told me that transferring my lease was not that difficult and the landlord just didn’t want to transfer my lease.

 

[quincy]

@Zigner,
Under the landlord/tenant act, the landlord is required to fix anything that renders air, food or drink unwholesome or detrimental to health. (did I mention that I turned on the exhaust fan above the stove and cigarette ashes fell into my food?).

I contacted an air quality specialist in my area. He had excellent reviews and was willing to write letters and be used in litigation if necessary. He told me he could do the tests and they would cost around $1000. He could write a letter for my landlord explaining all of the repairs that were necessary. Since this is an older building, chances are my air conditioning unit was attached to units belonging to smokers. He expected the repairs to be several thousand.

The landlord would have three options. 1) Let me out of my lease. He told me landlords are not very willing to do this. 2) Move me to anther unit. He warmed me that the landlord could move me to a different unit, but the smell of the smoke would be just as bad or there could be something else wrong with the unit. 3) Landlord could repair the unit. If the landlord repairs the unit, he will make your life miserable for the remainder of your lease and you won’t want to live there with that tension.

He advised me to save my money and use it to break my lease because it was really a no-win situation for me.

@Quincy,
My apartment unit is not located in a non-smoking apartment complex. There are non-smoking apartment complexes under this management company and I did ask my landlord if I could transfer my lease to a non-smoking apartment complex under the same management company. He told me they are not allowed to do that because all of the properties have different owners.

The air quality specialist that I spoke to told me that transferring my lease was not that difficult and the landlord just didn’t want to transfer my lease.

Transferring leases, from one landlord-owned property to another landlord-owned property, is not at all easy. I disagree with the air quality specialist you spoke to and I agree with the management company. They are separately owned and operated establishments.

You can move from one property to another, as you will be doing, but a new lease is required.

I do not see that you have much of a legal action against your current property owner. If your apartment complex did not claim to be a non-smoking complex, you cannot sue because the complex has smokers and your unit was once owned by a smoker.

I have friends who are extremely sensitive to the smell of smoke. They can smell it as soon as they walk into a room where someone has smoked or as soon as they meet someone who smokes. The smoke clings to surfaces, including clothing surfaces. I am surprised you were unable to pick up on the smell when you first toured your rental and that you rented your apartment anyway, knowing how badly the smoke would affect you.

That said, I can see you are on a quest to clean all of the air in Arizona. It will be an expensive quest and I do not hold out much hope of you being successful. And I still recommend that you do not write a negative review - even more so now, knowing the problem that is causing you to breach your lease. The landlord appears to have the law on his side.

With all of that said, I wish you good luck.

 

[LdiJ]

I am sorry but I have to say this...

I am a former smoker (114 days without a cigarette now) who spent 10 days in the hospital in March for pneumonia as a complication of the flu (5 days intubated, 8 days in the ICU) I will NEVER smoke again.

You are unreasonable. The doctors were very specific with my family as to what needed to be done to fix my house so that I could come home from the hospital without incurring more damage to my lungs. Those things included, cleaning and painting my bedroom walls, throwing away my mattress, replacing the carpeting in my bedroom and washing all of my clothing and bedding.

They suggested that shampooing the rest of the carpeting in the house and wiping down the walls would be helpful but not absolutely necessary.

I came home from the hospital on 4 ml of oxygen at rest and 6 ml of oxygen active and am now off oxygen entirely. I also had horrible allergies before I went into the hospital and have almost no allergies now.

On top of that your claim that cigarette ashes fell out of your stove hood on to your food is absurd. Its possible that the stove hood filter could have been clogged enough with food residue that some ash from that fell on to your food, but I can guarantee you that it was NOT cigarette ash.

The reality of life is that you obviously should only be living in a no smoking at all apartment complex, (or brand new home of your own just built) working at a no smoking at all company and patronizing at no smoking at all establishments. You should never have moved into a complex that allowed smoking and demanded that the complex somehow erase the fact that anyone ever smoked in the unit you rented.

 

[quincy]

I am sorry but I have to say this...

I am a former smoker (114 days without a cigarette now) ...

...The reality of life is that you obviously should only be living in a no smoking at all apartment complex, (or brand new home of your own just built) working at a no smoking at all company and patronizing at no smoking at all establishments. You should never have moved into a complex that allowed smoking and demanded that the complex somehow erase the fact that anyone ever smoked in the unit you rented.

Congratulations on your 114 days, LdiJ (and happy birthday)! I understand that smoking is not an easy addiction to break so I wish you continued success.

I agree with what I have quoted above of your post.

If a person has severe allergies, they are the ones generally tasked with avoiding the allergens. The world will not become dog or cat or grass or pollen or peanut or smoke free for them.

Although I have no allergies, I understand that those who do can have a difficult time navigating through a world filled with allergens. Seeing an allergy specialist is recommended, so the various options available for controlling allergic reactions can be discussed and tried.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Silly me. I would have just cleaned the walls myself.

Iff you are he**bent on leaving a negative review, limit your complaint to, "these are not smoke-free units; smoking is allowed in these units." This would be factual, informative, and might even be considered a positive statement if one happens to be a smoker.

Anything beyond that, and you start sounding like a loon.

 

[quincy]

What I find interesting after doing some additional research is that tenants have sued their landlords over smoky units before, even when there is no prohibition on smoking, and some of these tenants have had success in breaking their leases without penalty. Of course, others have not had success.

Following is one link I located, published by the Public Health Law and Policy's Technical Assistance Legal Center, San Diego County, California (which I know is not Sunnyd's state of Arizona). The publication is 2007/2008 vintage and provides some "Legal Options for Tenants Suffering from Drifting Tobacco Smoke." Whether any of the options listed are worth the time and expense of exploring in Arizona is a question mark.

http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/hhsa/programs/phs/documents/TobLegal_OptionsforTenantsSufferingfromDriftingTobaccoSmoke.pdf

As to cleaning walls: If I were really sensitive to smoke, I can't imagine how I could find myself renting a smoker's unit in the first place. Those with smoke-sensitivities are generally able to tell just by walking into a room if a smoker has smoked there - certainly they would be able to tell if the smoke-smell was as concentrated in the walls, floors and stove hood as reported here.