"non-smoking" applicants clearly smoking in Facebook photos. (apartments, evicting, rental property)

[crunchman]

Originally Posted by NY Annie

I quit smoking 8 years ago; my husband 21 years ago. There is no way I could have a smoker staying in my home - the smell on clothing permeates everything. We have a rule here, no smoking in the house. I set it up when I moved in 13 years ago. Yes, I smoked outside; yes, in 20 below with the snow blowing sideways. No, my husband would not kiss or hug me until I'd brushed my teeth, at least. 8 years later I know why. So now that I've joined the ranks of those nasty EX smokers, our rule is no smoking on the back porch. My guests understand - the few who are still smoking. It means those of us who do not smoke no longer have to hold our breath running through the smokey entryway.

I would not rent to a smoker. and I can smell a smoker. Just look at their nails if you can't.

Unreal, they say there is nothing worse than an ex-smoker, I guess it's true.

I quite a few yrs ago, but I don't take it out on smokers.You seem to be saying you never cared about non-smokers when you smoked and you aren't particularly concerned with smokers rights now.

I don't buy into the 2nd hand smoke rubbish either, talk about one extreme to another, typical naive/paranoid american behavior !!

[AK-Cathy]

Being ultra-sensitive to smoke I can smell a smoker at 10 paces. I can smell non-smoking hotel rooms that have been smoked in previously. If there is too much smoke (cigarette or forest fire type) either fresh or stale I have gotten severe bronchitis several times in the past.

I once worked with a woman that was a "closet smoker" but I knew her little secret. Sneaking out to smoke and then lying about where she had been made her an untrustworthy employee in my opinion. Eventually the truth came out when she was MIA and the boss needed to see her....

This prospective tenant misstated facts (lied) on his application and he was caught in the act. That he lied in the first place about a very basic personal truth would cast doubt on every other thing that he put on his application, Further, as a LL, I would have serious doubt after the initial untruth, that even if he promised on his first born's life that he'd take it outside every time whether in fact that would happen in actual practice. I would not rent to smokers ever, period, end of story. Too much lingering after effects that have to be mitigated for non-smokers to use the space.

As for Facebook, I once hired a tile setting contractor that checked out with usual sources but turned out to be unreliable at best. I wished I would have looked at his FB pages first. If I had, I wouldn't have hired him and saved myself all sorts of trouble.

[STT Resident]

Originally Posted by crunchman

Unreal, they say there is nothing worse than an ex-smoker, I guess it's true.
I don't buy into the 2nd hand smoke rubbish either, talk about one extreme to another, typical naive/paranoid american behavior !!

I beg to disagree. I have been a smoker all my life, totaling 50 years. That's smoking years not age ... Incredibly and unusually physically active for almost all my life thus far I came down with pneumonia a few years ago. Hospitalized, almost died, got over it. A year ago I had the same symptoms, went to the doc (I NEVER go to docs unless I'm truly suffering but that's a whole 'nother story!) and he prescribed an antibiotic to ward off the progression of bronchial problems related to COPD and possible pneumonia, along with a bronchial dilator.

His estimation of COPD was so blithe and I didn't even realize that I had COPD until I saw it written down on one of the prescriptions.

I guess I'n going to have to go back and look into some long term therapy for the COPD which has exacerbated over the last couple of months, resulting in shortness of breath and chest pains even when taking care of what used to be most mundane physical chores. Being around cigarette smoke is now for me a real prospective killer.

Smoking has been banned now here in public places as of last year but even smelling it from quite a distance or on people's clothes makes me gasp. Am I still addicted to nicotine? Heck yes. I used the "Commit" (now apparently bought out by Nicoderm) lozenges to start off with and now am down to taking just one or two a day.

I never contributed to the "2nd hand smoke rubbish" either. Not liking the smell is one thing but having one's breathing majorly compromised is one whole different ball game. You wouldn't like it one little bit.

[stan4]

Lots of people smoke casually and never indoors.

Sounds like the landlord doesn't want to gamble on that. Fair enough. It's his property.

[crunchman]

Originally Posted by STT Resident

I beg to disagree. I have been a smoker all my life, totaling 50 years. That's smoking years not age ... Incredibly and unusually physically active for almost all my life thus far I came down with pneumonia a few years ago. Hospitalized, almost died, got over it. A year ago I had the same symptoms, went to the doc (I NEVER go to docs unless I'm truly suffering but that's a whole 'nother story!) and he prescribed an antibiotic to ward off the progression of bronchial problems related to COPD and possible pneumonia, along with a bronchial dilator.

His estimation of COPD was so blithe and I didn't even realize that I had COPD until I saw it written down on one of the prescriptions.

I guess I'n going to have to go back and look into some long term therapy for the COPD which has exacerbated over the last couple of months, resulting in shortness of breath and chest pains even when taking care of what used to be most mundane physical chores. Being around cigarette smoke is now for me a real prospective killer.

Smoking has been banned now here in public places as of last year but even smelling it from quite a distance or on people's clothes makes me gasp. Am I still addicted to nicotine? Heck yes. I used the "Commit" (now apparently bought out by Nicoderm) lozenges to start off with and now am down to taking just one or two a day.

I never contributed to the "2nd hand smoke rubbish" either. Not liking the smell is one thing but having one's breathing majorly compromised is one whole different ball game. You wouldn't like it one little bit.

Its not suprising you have COPD after 50 yrs of smoking, thats normal.But 2nd hand smoke could never cause COPD, acute bronchitis maybe with heavy exposure, but thats very rare.Its like everything these days.Our world is as safe as it ever has been, but people live in constant fear of the boogeyman, hope you are doing well btw.

[chicagojlo]

Originally Posted by crunchman

I don't buy into the 2nd hand smoke rubbish either, talk about one extreme to another, typical naive/paranoid american behavior !!

Even if you don't believe that 2nd hand smoke is dangerous to others (and medical experts around the world will disagree with you on that, not just American ones), then you can't deny that cigarette smoke smells and gets onto other people's clothes and hair, even if they're not the ones smoking. Which isn't fair to the people who aren't smoking - a non-smoker isn't doing you any harm by just standing there not smoking.

And again, smoking is considered to be dangerous to health and a nuisance in pretty much all of the developed world, if anything America is behind the times on this, not ahead.

[Lacerta]

Anyone who thinks that 2nd hand smoke isn't dangerous needs to look into the recent research showing that exposure to the buildup of tobacco toxin in a home from 3rd hand smoke is now suspected to possibly be the leading cause of SIDS in babies. Both Scientific American and the Mayo clinic have had articles in the last few years talking about 3rd hand smoke (the smoke that lingers in hair, clothing, furniture, carpet, etc).

If 3rd hand smoke is harmful enough to be killing babies, how in the world can anyone think that 2nd hand smoke isn't enough to cause health problems in people exposed to it often?

Ok, now I'm not saying that a person who sits next to a smoker at a ball game, or drives past a person smoking is going to get lung cancer from it. But people who are around it a lot, people who are friends with smokers and are exposed to it often, or in closed spaces like cars, or especially children of smokers (even if the parents don't smoke around the kids), are very likely to develop health problems related to breathing the smoke in all the time, such as asthma. Anyone who doesn't believe that is in denial.

[Lacerta]

Originally Posted by Bill Keegan

Why do you care if he is smoking somewhere else? You can't regulate what he does when he is not in the property he rents from you. All you need be concerned with is that he not smoke in tht property, if that is a condition in his lease.

I have to disagree with this one. We have two clauses in our lease that have to do with activity at places other than at the property.

We have one clause that says we do not rent to smokers. Period. Not just "no smoking in the house", but actually, "you can't live here if you are a smoker". Our application says in big letters at the top "Do not apply if you (or anyone in your household) are a smoker".

And we also have a clause on our Zero Tolerance page that says if you are convicted of a felony, whether it occured on the premises or elsewhere, it is grounds for 3 day eviction.

I don't see anything wrong with either of those. I think they are both very reasonable.

[NY Annie]

I take exception to the comment that I didn't care about non-smokers' rights before I quit or smokers' rights after. First, I was as considerate a smoker as I knew how to be. I didn't smoke in others' homes without it being brought up by them; I didn't smoke around children; and I tried to never smoke in a restaurant when those at my table were still eating. If anyone asked me to put out my cigarette, I did.

Now, the rights of smokers' - ahem, what right? To pollute my air? Sorry, even when I was a smoker, I knew I didn't have "rights". My rights end where anyone else's begin.

And now let me say that I smoked for 44 years. I used to get bronchitis every 6-8 weeks and pneumonia at least yearly - I haven't had either in the 8 years since I quit. My father died of emphysema. I watched him suffocate while on oxygen. I tried for 15 years to quit and finally made it.

We have had people visit us who are smokers. They know the rules before coming here. They are rules I lived by before I quit - no smoking in the house, don't throw your butts on the lawn, and please don't block the back porch while smoking. But when I said I would not have someone living in my house, it referred to our rental which is our retirement home. I cannot tell you how nice it is to not wash windows every week because of the brown crud - nicotine. How nice it is to not have my car's windshield streaked with it.

And it's also why I now prefer to drive rather than get in my friend's car. She is a good friend, but she is a smoker. And I always have to wash my hair (it's 3" below my waist) whenever I have spent time in her car. And my clothes are dropped right into the washer - they smell. It doesn't mean we can't be friends - it just means I'm not crazy about the smell.

Any LL who wants to have a no-smoking property has the right to do so. Anyone who lies on the application is not a tenant I'd want - regardless what was lied about.

[crunchman]

I quit too, but I dont see where anyone is susceptible to lots of 2nd h smoke, if your in the car just have them open the window.

As far as the felony rental thing, these days anyone could be a felon for myriad reasons, it just doesn't mean what it is supposed too.there's a new book out called. 3 Felonies a day, it explains how most Americans commit 3 felonies a day.I would not blame you if you chose not to not rent to a gang member or such, but the felony thing is pure discrimination, no other country engages in this type of behavior, I guess it's American exeptionalism, it's wrong