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If Mayor Bloomberg gets his way, he’d like NYC rental apartments to ban smoking. Bloomberg is introducing legislation that would require residential buildings to adopt written policies on whether smoking is permitted or prohibited—likely greatly increasing the amount of non-smoking buildings in the city.
“We think that people ought to know whether they might be exposed to second-hand smoke in their apartment before they decide whether to rent or buy,” Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told the Wall Street Journal.
The proposal would force buildings to dictate smoking policies on all indoor and outdoor locations including lobbies, balconies, courtyards, laundry rooms and individual apartments. Landlord organizations are opposed to the ban on smoking. Lawyers for landlords are warning landlords to be very careful about the wording of their smoking policies, if they must commit them to paper. They see the potential for tenants to sue landlords for leaking smoke or even inadvertent exposure to second hand smoke that may filter into a non-smoking part of the building.
Crain’s New York Business ran an instant poll when reporting this story. Out of approximately 2,000 respondents to the poll, 71% were opposed to the Mayors initiative and 29% were in favor.
The Mayor, on the other hand, produced a telephone survey which found that New Yorkers favor the new law by 64% to 30%. The remaining 6% must have been coughing and hacking to hard to respond. The Mayor also pointed out that between July 15, 2011 and April 15, 2012 there were 2,363 complaints to 311 about second hand smoke in residences.
It should also be noted that some apartment buildings already restrict or ban smoking already.
New York City rentals are already tight and expensive. How much would it add to the ordeal of finding a good NY apartment rental when your smoking habits or your roommates smoking habits become a major new addition to your apartment search?
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It’s probably the right way to go. I know of 7 residential buildings in the city with a strict smoke ban. Heavy smoker neighbors cause an unpleasant situation on floors and most families with children just don’t want that.
I’m very excited about how that law gets enforced if it get approved.