What is smoke-free?

• Smoke-free rental properties are just that: properties where smoking is not allowed or is only allowed in designated smoking areas. Apartments, common areas, outside: all are smoke-free. Your residents have the comfort of knowing they won’t be breathing in second-hand smoke generated by other residents or their guests.

Why make my property smoke-free?

• Prohibiting smoking attracts quality tenants and saves landlords money. Smoking inside causes damage (burn marks in the carpet, on the vinyl, on countertops) and requires extra cleaning (those cigarette butts on the ground, yellow nicotine stains on the walls, more shampooing of carpets). Smoking is the single largest cause of house fires. Going smoke-free might save you on insurance costs.

Is it legal?

• Prohibiting smoking is legal. Smokers are not a protected class. That has been clearly stated in several lawsuits around the country. In fact, you can reduce legal problems by prohibiting smoking. However well built your property, you cannot avoid second-hand smoke migrating from one apartment to another. A Clackamas County landlord was found to have violated the habitability covenant of one tenant when the cigarette smoke from the apartment below migrated upstairs.

Will it sell?

• A recent survey of Portland area renters found that three quarters agreed that “other things being equal,” they would chose a smoke-free property to live in. Over half said they would even pay extra to live in such housing. Fewer than one fifth of renters are daily smokers, and a third of those don’t smoke in their homes.

Visit: www.smokefreehousinginfo.com for additional information on No-smoking rules for residential property.

• Landlords and managers considering converting their properties to smoke-free now have access to new tools to do that. The Rental Housing Association of Greater Portland now has available for you a new lease addendum form, a booklet explaining how to convert properties to smoke-free, and a flier you can use to explain to prospective tenants the benefits of living in smoke-free housing.

• Landlords are making their properties smoke-free because it makes business sense.A recent poll of Metro area renters showed that three quarters prefer living in smoke-free housing. A majority would even be willing to pay extra for it.

• A No Smoking Policy can save you money. Smoking causes damage: burn marks in the carpet and on vinyl and countertops. Smoking increases your cleaning costs. Scrubbing that yellow nicotine off the walls, shampooing carpets, and cleaning drapes all take time and cost money. Tobacco smoke will mean more frequent repainting.

• You can get the money out of the security deposit-assuming you have enough. But the extra time for cleaning and repairs increases the down time for that apartment at turnover and that cost can come out of your pocket. And isn't it better to return the deposit in full? Arguing over deposits is a drain on your time and too often you end up compromising, resulting in more uncovered costs.Smoking is the number one cause of house fires in Oregon.

• However well insured you are, fires cost money, if not lives. According to the Hartford Insurance Company, more people die in fires caused by smoking than in any other type of house fire. But even if no one dies, fires are catastrophic, and cost everyone.

• Check with your insurance company: if you prohibit smoking on your property you may qualify for a lower premium.

Prohibiting smoking is legal.

• Smokers are not a protected class. That has been clearly stated in several lawsuits around the country. In fact, you can reduce legal problems by prohibiting smoking. However well built your property, you cannot avoid second-hand smoke migrating from one apartment to another. A Clackamas County landlord was found to have violated the habitability covenant of one tenant when the cigarette smoke from the apartment below migrated upstairs.

• If you want to make your property smoke-free, here's what you have to do. First, you need to have everyone agree. For new tenants, that's easy. Of course, the agreement needs to be in writing: hence RHAGP's new Form 206, the Smoking Policy.

• SMOKE-FREE RENTAL HOUSING STUDY IN THE PORTLAND METROPOLITAN AREA prepared by Campbell DeLong Resources for the American Lung Association of Oregon, The Multnomah County Health Department,the Clark County Public Health outlines attitudes of renters in the Metro area to smoking. The results show that the vast majority of tenants (4 out of 5) would prefer to live in smoke-free housing. So it makes sense to consider making your apartments smoke-free.

• “Property owners and managers should know that they have every right under Fair Housing laws to restrict smoking in and on their property. Smoking is not a protected class; neither smokers nor the act of smoking is included as a protected class under federal, state, or local Fair Housing laws.”Pegge McGuire, Executive Director, Fair Housing Council of Oregon

 Link to HousingConnections.ORG

Updated 11/29/11