Landlord/tenant issue, landlord telling me I can't burn incense (apartments, carpets)
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AFAIK or at least my leases specify I must give tenant 48 hours notice before I can enter the property for inspection.
My leases specify that smoking (i.e. tobacco) is expressly forbidden.
I never heard of forbidding incense, and I don't see it as a landlord-tenant issue. What next, no scented candles? Incense does not leave any lasting smell unless it's a furnished rental (only a maybe here) or unless huge volumes of incense are involved. In that case, look for pentagrams, chicken heads, blood, satanic worship.
And I saved the best for last. The above is probably covered under religious discrimination. Wicca is a religion.
And worse, if they are real, you don't wanna be messing with supernaturals!
And I saved the best for last. The above is probably covered under religious discrimination. Wicca is a religion.!
.. in certain religions such as Hinduism, you are supposed to light an incense when you pray every morning or evening. So yes it is religious discrimination if you can say you practice Hinduism
Smelling smoke is an emergency situation in all 50 states and a landlord can enter without notice when he smells smoke.
And seeing as how my landlord is a retired city firefighter who just happens to live downstairs from me, I would be stupid to challenge him on the fact that he forbids any open flames, candles, etc. in my apartment! He doesn't even want me fiddling with the smoke detectors, but to let him know when they need servicing.
I'm not claiming that it's a good idea to leave 3 sticks of incense burning unattended. I'm saying that if I'm in my apartment and I burn one stick of incense, he shouldn't have the right to tell me that I can't as long as I'm not doing it in a way that's dangerous or excessive.
By the way, as a cat person, I can tell you all that smoke is unhealthy to your cat's lungs. They have sensitive lungs in general.
I live in Iowa, in a non-smoking apartment building that allows cats. I had two of them, one was using the carpet as a litterbox, so I gave her to a family member. I plan to have the carpets professionally cleaned, but in the meantime I've been burning incense to mask the smell.
My landlord is pretty invasive/present on the property and tells me from time to time that I can't do this or that, can't open my windows because of heating, can't chain my bike to the fence, etc. He came into my apartment to remove my AC for the season. I lit incense in several rooms before I left because I didn't want him to notice that my cat had urinated on the carpet. Later in the day he sent me a text message telling me that 3 sticks of unattended incense was a "fire hazard" and a violation of the non-smoking policy. I saw that he had extinguished the sticks I had burning.
I said that I could understand the fire concern or the quantity of incense smoke if it was bothering neighbors, but that burning a single stick at a time didn't constitute "smoking". His response was that because 3 sticks at a time was "so over the top, I have to say NO more" and that "next time I'll have to be ultra specific in the lease about what non-smoking means".
I don't believe my landlord has a right to tell me that I can't burn a stick of incense in my apartment, that I pay him money to live in. The lease says nothing about incense, and it seems to me that he's just making up rules as he goes along even though he has no legal backing for them.
Advice?
The LL is right. Leaving insense burning unattended or not IS a fire hazard. I specifically prohibit burning candles smoking, burning insense or potpourri of any kind. Its also specifically forbidden to leave ANY fire source unattended. It's actually in my lease that you cannot smoke anything or burn incense or candles of any kind on the premises.
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