Smoking & Renting

PasturesNew

I'm a smoker. About 10 a day.

But I never smoke indoors. Not even in my own house. (Owned house. Own house. Living alone).
Come hell, high water, storm, rain or snow, freezing weather, 3am .... I go outside. And I am careful that smoke doesn't blow back in a house, that I put out the cig 100% (I have a fire fear) and it is tidied away.

If I am in the house of a smoker, I STILL go outside. I won't smoke in anybody else's house unless they literally break my arms to do it. I go outside.

I plan to give up ... soon.

Anyway. I am renting a flat for the first time next week. I signed the SMOKER:NO box.

Because I figured:
a] I will only EVER smoke entirely outside. Ever.
b] I will NEVER smoke in the place. I am scared of fire and hate the smell. I also have a complete fear of "rule breaking" and am anal about keeping to the rules/regs

Should I still feel guilty at ticking the NO box?

Any landlords here like to give their view if they found a tenant sat in their car on the road outside at 3am smoking? Or sat outside on the grass smoking on a sunny afternoon?

ohmsoft

You ticked the box to say you wern't a smoker when you signed - there would be nothing stopping you starting since!....if not smoking in the place i can't see any problem at all.

I've also been led to believe that non smoking clauses are not enforcable anyway - but have nowt to back that up with, anyone else?

real1314

I wouldn;t be bothered, but I'd rather know in advance. Stopping you smoking outside the property would probably be deemed unfair, even in the garden

PasturesNew

Apart from that. Any guests will have to be turfed out to smoke even if I weren't a smoker.

So I guess it's quite normal to see people smoking outside in places where flats are rented.

seven-day-weekend

I specify no smokers for the lodgers who share my house in the UK with my son, but we have had two who smoked, both did so outside and I had no problem with that at all. Neither did my son, who is far more anti-smoking than I am.

I understand about the rules, I get hung up on them too so can understand completely why you asked the question!

franklee

Up to you, I expect any landlord or agent meeting you will know you are a smoker, it'll be on your clothes etc. What they do about it is anyones guess, depends on if you are good in all other aspects I suppose. Maybe they'll sing you for a big cleaning bill at the end

I hate the smell of smoke myself and can spot a smoker from ten paces. I don't think smokers realise how the smell clings even when they are not actually smoking. As for the smoking outside, I guess many landlords have heard that before and won't believe it even though in your case it's true.

So feel a little guilty Right that's done with now Loads of tenant round here sit blowing smoke out the window, but only for a few months then I guess they smoke inside... I would not take the property after them.

lynzpower

An old letting agent of one of the houses I rented with a mate said are you smokers and we said yes, and he said "oh lets tick the no box, the LL doesnt like smokers" . Funnily enough when she let herself into our house unexpectedly, she was tidying the garden and was blatantly smoking herself.

When I go into a LA I always say, " we are looking for a 2 bed garden property, we are both smokers and we have a dog". I put it out there from the off. yes we probably didnt get offer the most plushest on the books, but to be honest, Id rather rent somewhere not entirely spotlessly refurbed- as it only ends up costing on check out anyway. It didnt seem to concern most LAs we spoke to, but I guess it would bother some LLs.

Austin_Allegro

I would simply leave the box blank or put n/a. It should be no business of a landlord's whether you smoke or not, anymore than it is his business whether you like cooking curry or fish, which would create a lingering smell too.

What if you smoke one cigarette a year or just a cigar at Christmas - this still makes you a 'smoker' (that's what an insurance agent told me anyway) and what possible harm would this do to his fixtures and fittings? Also, what if a friend or relation visited you every day and smoked? All this makes me think the fact that you smoke is irrelevant.

I'm not sure of the legal position on this, though I would think it would come under the right to quiet enjoyment. I appreciate things are a bit different for lodgers though.

Sorry to get on my high horse, but I think the Englishman's home should be his castle and am getting *******d off with the gradual erosion of our liberties even in private. :mad:

Lavendyr

Austin_Allegro wrote: »

I would simply leave the box blank or put n/a. It should be no business of a landlord's whether you smoke or not, anymore than it is his business whether you like cooking curry or fish, which would create a lingering smell too.

Sorry, but there is a huge difference between smoking and cooking strong-smelling food! The smell of smoke lingers far longer and is far harder to get rid of. We moved into a house previously occupied by a smoker and it took us several weeks to get the smell out of the soft furnishings. By contrast, the kitchen smells (which were also quite strong when we moved in) were gone within a day or two. Not only that but cigarette smoke can stain soft furnishings, you'd have to be cooking one heck of a curry to cause that.

Austin_Allegro wrote:

I think the Englishman's home should be his castle

But the home, while the tenant may occupy it, still belongs to someone else.

Guy_Montag

When I moved into my current place I was asked if I smoked, which I didn't. But I've had guests that do, & they're not getting kicked out of my home if they want a tab.

PasturesNew

If the place were advertised as "No pets, smokers, DSS, children...."
Then I'd have thought that'd really be poor form.

I'd have also thought that the landlord's insurance was based on "no smoking". So if anybody smoked ... and there were a mishap due to a cig burning it down ... there'd be no payout.