[CT] Bathroom Ventilation [Marijuana-Tobacco]

[mklusmann]

What is the name of your state?
Connecticut - Fairfield County

I live in an apartment building (built in 1986) in Stamford Connecticut. The bathrooms have vents but apparently they are not doing their job. Tenant(s) on other unit(s) are smoking marijuana and tobacco and my apartment becomes filled with the smoke (you can actually see the smoke) from the vent in the master bedroom. I noticed the vents do not have any kind of exhaust fan and there are no windows, if there is any fan atop the duct it seems not be doing its job since the air from other apartments is permeating into my unit in massive amounts.

Is there any code that enforces the appropriate functioning of the cross-apartment shared ventilation system in the bathrooms?

I have a 1 year old kid and me and my wife are passive smokers now so this represents a major health hazard for us. Is there anything we can do? I already sent a notice to fix the problem, but they are not doing anything about it, I am planning on breaking my lease since from my PoV they are already in breach past the 15 days of my notice but I want to make sure this is enforceable.

 

[reenzz]

Only a landlord can send a “notice to cure”. So your notice is useless. Is your apartment complex “smoke free”?

 

[mklusmann]

Excuse me for using the wrong term, we sent a notice to our landlord as described in

CHAPTER 830*
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF LANDLORD AND TENANT:

Sec. 47a-12. Breach of agreement by landlord. Tenant's remedies. (a) If there is a material noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement or a noncompliance with section 47a-7 which materially affects health and safety, the tenant may deliver a written notice to the landlord specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach. If the breach is not remedied within fifteen days after receipt of the notice, the rental agreement shall terminate on such date. If substantially the same act or omission which constituted a prior noncompliance of which notice was given, recurs within six months of the first act of noncompliance, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement upon at least fourteen days written notice specifying (1) the date the breach complained of occurred and (2) the date the tenant intends to terminate the rental agreement by vacating the premises, which date shall be within thirty days of such breach.

The lease does not indicate a "smoke free" building, but we think the building has to still comply with the code and if smoking is allowed it should provide appropriate ventilation. We can literally see the smoke pouring through the vents, when I am up late working I go check on our bedroom when my wife is sleeping with my kid and is all tobacco and marijuana, we were waking up with sore throats and headaches and my kid is having problems as well, if you are not awake you can't tell its actually happening, but since I started to stay awake more regularly I noticed what the issue is.

I want to understand the exact meaning of this specific section:

Sec. 19a-359. (Formerly Sec. 19-363). Bathrooms and water closets. In each tenement house erected or subdivided after June 30, 1941, there shall be a water closet in each apartment of two or more rooms. In each tenement house erected after August 31, 1930, and prior to July 1, 1941, there shall be a water closet in each apartment of three or more rooms and at least one water closet for each two apartments of less than three rooms each. Each water closet shall be in a separate compartment or bathroom, upon the same floor with the apartment which it accommodates. Each bathroom, toilet room or other room containing one or more water closets or urinals, which is placed in any building, shall be at all times provided with adequate lighting and shall be ventilated in at least one of the following ways: (1) By a window opening directly upon a street or other open public space or upon a court located on the same lot as the building, and having, between stop beads, an area not less than ten per cent of the floor area nor less than three square feet in any case and a width of not less than one foot; (2) by a window of the size specified in subdivision (1) of this section, or a register, opening on a vent shaft which extends to and through the roof or into a court conforming to the requirements of this section for courts and which has a cross-sectional area of not less than one-fifth of a square foot for each foot of height but not less than nine square feet and a width of not less than sixteen inches in any case, and, unless open to the outer air at the top, a net area of louvre openings in the skylight equal to the maximum required shaft area; (3) by an individual vent flue or duct extending independently of any other flue or duct to and above the roof and having a cross-sectional area of not less than one square foot for two or fewer water closets or urinal fixtures and one-third of a square foot additional for each additional water closet or urinal fixture; (4) by a skylight in the ceiling, having a glazed surface of not less than three square feet and arranged so as to provide ventilating openings of not less than three square feet to the outer air above the roof of the building or into a court conforming to the requirements of this section for courts, for two or fewer water closets or urinal fixtures and two square feet additional for each additional water closet or urinal fixture; or (5) by some approved system of mechanical exhaust ventilation of sufficient capacity to provide not less than four changes of air per hour. Each vent shaft in a tenement house erected after August 31, 1930, shall be constructed of fire-proof material. Not more than two water closets or bathrooms shall open upon such a shaft on one floor of a tenement house, and no two water closet or bathroom windows opening upon such shaft on the same floor shall be opposite each other.

From my pov, since the bathrooms have no windows and the vents are no directly and independently connected to the outside(3) they must comply with (5) but the bathrooms have no exhaust fans installed and if they have a fan on the roof its not complying with whats specified in (5).

 

[FarmerJ]

Did you call your city housing inspections desk OR better yet GO there and talk to them ? Reason I ask is that it sounds as if two units or more are sharing the same duct line ( which to me would likely be the route the smoke is getting into your unit OTHER wise im wondering if a hardware store (lumber yard) near you carries fans that are designed to sit on a vent and suck air from a distant heat vent to help heat or cool a room would work for you If it was turned around and would blow air from your apartment into the duct ? You really should get inspections out there and if they order the LL to make corrections and the LL refuses they have the option to condemn . AS to moving DO not move before getting inspections in there because if you do you have no control over the apartment and LL might in turn go after you for breaking the lease , BUT while your in possession of the rental you can get inspector from city in BUT if your gone LL can tell them there is no problem and get away with it.

 

[HRZ]

IS it legal to smoke pot in CT? invite the police over to your unit ?

 

[mklusmann]

Yes it is illegal in CT, when contacted the police said I have to tell them the apartment number, but there is no way I can tell. I wont be moving until I have everything ready and I have opened a case. I have talked to them before my letter and after, in person twice, they made a scandal and still refuse to solve the problem, I have recorded all of my conversations with them. The vents in the bathrooms are all conected to the same duct but none of the units have fans in them, thats how the smoke gets into my aparment.

 

[HRZ]

IT seems as posted the bathroom vents fail to comply with code : lean on local codes department ! They have power to force compliance . it's a stretch a big stretch but improper bathroom ventilation might render a unit unfit for habitation ...thier call NOT your call.

IT is relatively simple to put in one way flappers which inhibit back flow to other units ...and they are often integral to even the cheapest of power vests that might be installed in your bathroom .

With a reasonable bit of directed effort it may be easier to abate the problem than it is to move

 

[FarmerJ]

If your bathroom vent cover is metal then a sheet of fridge magnet material from craft section of a store or from a craft store cut to size and slapped over the metal cover to stop air from entering your unit via that duct line. If inspections refuses to come or finds nothing wrong with it show them the code and if they still wont act then seal the vent with magnet sheet, or aluminum foil tape like what duct work is sealed with and plan for not renewing and get it done this far ahead on real paper sent via certified mail or confirmed mail delivery and staple your receipt to your copy of it and start hunting for another rental and while looking or talking to property managers ASK them if they have any units left in the building that have tenants under older leases that allow smoking. If they want to know why tell them you want to live in a rental property where there is no smoking permitted in any apartment , no smoking permitted outside by doors and the only smoking permitted is in a designated area away from the building or in a tenants own car if parking is far enough away from the building itself. or lastly to call the police anyway. Do not give up possession of that apartment until you have had a city building inspector out .

 

[mklusmann]

Just find out the main reason this is happening it's because they are refusing to fix the fan atop the building. I'm contacting an inspector.