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I'm not keen of smokers renting my property. However, in practice it's very difficult for a landlord to enforce a non smoking policy in their rental property.This is because once let even if the landlord carries out a regular 3 month inspection. The tenant has plenty of warning because the landlord has to give reasonable notice of their intention to inspect the property to ventilate the property and discard and disguise any signs of smoking taking place.
If the tenant says they are non smokers you generally have to take them at face value.
Latest figures from easyroommate.co.uk suggest that more than 90 per cent of smokers are barred from renting a property. It found a strong shift in attitude against smoking tenants among landlords following the smoking ban introduced in July 2007. Just 7 per cent of landlords allow smoking in their property while 38 per cent said they will evict lodgers who smoke indoors.
Whilst these figures suggest that most landlords have an intention to only let to non smokers. In reality many landlords have tenants that smoke but perhaps don't realise.
Should landlords discriminate against smokers? Would you take action against a smoking tenant if you had taken them on originally as a non smoker?
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11 comments:
I advertise for non smokers but realise that this is difficult to enforce. As I see it if it's in the agreement and they are aware that they're not supposed to then they will hopefully be more considerate. They will regularly air the place which of course helps to elimainate damp and make sure that the walls and ceilings are not coated with nicotine.
As an ex-smoker I am very sensitive to the smell of smoke and assuming a few days void I always go the the properties myself a couple of days after tenants have left - after being shut up the smell becomes more apparent. I have made deductions in the past but have yet to make a claim against the deposit under the new regime. I suppose that a stench of cigarette smoke will warrant a £10 deduction from their deposit despite the fact it makes it very difficult to re-let to non-smokers.
Hi Nick. You are right there is nothing worse than the lingering odour of cigarette smoke. I'm not sure how enforceable any deduction under the TDS would be. I suspect not very given that a landlord has to prove that the tenant has caused the damage. Unless they invent a 'smellivision' inventory this could be a difficult one to establish.
Hi Ed. With the deposit protection schemes, it is a case of asking for what is reasonable in the circumstances and proving that you need it. Assuming that there is a non smoking clause in the tenancy agreement, and that you can submit corroborating evidence from an independently conducted check-out report or interim inspection, to show that the property smells, the adjudicator will very likely accept the necessity to professionally clean soft furnishings, or whatever is reasonable to remove the smell of tobacco smoke, and make a corresponding award.
What a complete and utter disgrace. Would you ban people of Asian origin because they would make the house smell of curry? Of course not, you'd be up in court.
Remember, when someone rents your place it is their home , and as such anti-smoking legislation does not apply. It is not as if they are doing anything illegal. Get a grip, lighten up, and stop trying to enforce such narrow-minded views on people who, after all, are your customers.
Hi, we say to people that are OK to smoke OUTSIDE the property. This seems to be an acceptable solution to our tenants and to us. So far we have nto had any issues with this and all have abided by it and respected our wishes.
Hi, I advertise my properties as all non smoking. I generally prefer non smokers however, I have a smoker in one property and the agreement is that they smoke outside. This seems to be working well. He is sharing the house with a non smoker anyway who would object to him smoking inside.
From we experience we now
1) Advertise for non-smokers.
2) we point out at the Initial meeting that Any smoking inside will cause yellowing of the decor and that it will cost a minimum of £1000 to redecorate, not to mention the smell getting into carpets and curtains which in extreme cases can need total replacement when soaking in Bleach for 24 hours is simply not enough.
3) We use our noses when meeting the tenant. If they have the smell about their person it is not difficult to notice.
If they insist that they will only ever smoke outside and everything else is OK then they're in, But
4) We reinforce the No-Smoking Inside Tolerated at the Inventory check-in stage, with the example restoration costs emphasized (which of course would be at their own expense)
We have had no problems in the last five years since adopting this approach.
Hi anon, thanks for your comments. Useful advice. I'd be interested how you have got on enforcing these stipulations if a tenant disputed the deduction under the new TENANCY DEPOSIT SCHEME. I suspect it would be a very 'grey area' and would depend a lot on the arbitrators' disposition towards smoking tenants as to the ruling on a case. Your approach to 'weed out' smokers at the letting stage seems very astute.
As a smoker I firstly agree that smoking in a property totally changes the character of a property, and that many smokers tend to be inconsiderate - yet it does annoy me that property adverts say 'No smokers'. I never smoke in a property (even if allowed to), and feel the adverts should say 'No smoking'. So if I am asked if I am a smoker when renting to a place I say no, and only ever smoke outside, making sure I close the door so smoke does not enter the property. If I said, yes I am a smoker I'd be barred, irrespective of whether I tried to say I would never do it in the property.
It makes me laugh when the landlords/estate agents have the arrogance to tell you that it's "OKAY" to smoke outside. I was unaware that they own the pavement in the street as well as the house! If you weren't renting there and were smoking whilst walking in the street they couldn't tell you to stop.
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