One of my communities went non-smoking and we only lost two residents (200 units). You would be surprised at how many more people you will attract by going non-smoking. :woohoo: It doesn't hurt nearly as bad as you would think. I had at least 50% of my residents smoking and some even quit. AND now days, most people don't smoke in their homes.

I used to work in a hotel that didn't allow smoking... but you know how sometimes they forget (eye roll). Anyway, we purchased an ionizer, which is basically a purifier. I've done the same thing at the apartment complex and have residents sign it out when they need to.

I agree non smoking buildings are the way to go! I still stay out on site while we are doing lease ups and I do not want to be in a smoking building!! I also understand that it can be difficult to change buildings over to non smoking. Hey have you ever heard to eat an elephant a bite at a time. Well this is the approach I would use and it is very effective. Find out which building have the most non smokers in them and slowly convert them over to non smoking. This way you can have some building for non smokers and slowly convert to all non smoking. Of course many of our clients have kept a mix depending on the market.

I wish we could go non-smoking! Since our building has never been non-smoking and there are many local communities that are, we tend to attract smokers. Our occupancy would plummet if they all left. Also, our maintenance tech, who has been here five years, is a smoker. If we converted to a non-smoking community he would leave us.

All we can do is enforce the policies about non disturbing other residents with smoke, and recommend using smokeless ashtrays.

We are going No-Smoking in all communities. We don't want them, and so maybe we should recommend they move up to Oregon! Just kidding...
Make your bldgs non smoking and watch the problems drift away like smoke wafting in the wind.

I have 130+ people in one building, so odors and noise effects everyone at my property.

At my property, (in Oregon) smoking is permitted and we have had similar issues in the past. The laws and rental agreement terms in your state may differ.

According to our attorney, offensive cigarette smoke is just like offensive noise.

Therefore, Residents can smoke inside their apartment or on their patio, but according to the rental agreement, they cannot "disturb the quiet enjoyment of other residents."

For the first offense, either call or post a note on their door as a friendly reminder. If it happens again, I make a copy of that portion of the rental agreement with the residents signature, highlight that section, and post it along with a non-compliance/disturbance notice to their door. Then I remind them that non-compliance notices have a derogatory effect on their rental history.

I've always recommended to my smokers that they use a smokeless ashtray, it does help.