Is it tacky for a landlord up stick a NO SMOKING sign inside an apartment?

Yes. He should put it in the rent agreement and be done with it.

Unless the apartment complex also provides room service and wake up calls, I would say it’s incredibly tacky.

Is smoking allowed in your rental agreement? If not, it’s tacky of him to change course in the middle of the stream. Did he give you fair warning of the sign?

If the rental agreement did not state this, when you first signed it, you may fall under what is called a “grandfathers clause”. In other words, this would not apply to you, since he changed the rules after both of you signed a rental agreement.

Read carefully the wording in the agreement you signed. first.

Did he put it up after you moved in, or has it always been there?

If it’s the first, he’s totally onto you. If it’s the latter, meh. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

@john65pennington & @Mamradpivo – Actually, I’m the landlord. I have “no smoking” in the lease (it’s an old building and smoke gets around) I was thinking of putting one up in the vacant apartment below me. Apparently that’s a bad idea. I won’t do it…

I have a feeling that @HungryGuy is the landlord. lol I was right.

Absolutely not. Good reminder to both residents and their guests.

Uh, you can have it there when you’re showing it, but once someone moves in you can’t choose how they decorate the walls.

Haha…control freaks abound.

Wait, did you mean inside the apartment building, in a common area like the hallways? Or did you mean inside the unit itself, where only the resident of the unit itself can enter? My previous answer assumes the former. If you mean the latter, “tacky” doesn’t begin to describe it.

I would think it is sufficient to put it in the lease. Have them pay for the cost of renovating it if they smoke in it. That should make sure that people are not smokers.

It is tacky indeed. I would remove the “no smoking” posting from my wall the first day I’m there. It really would make my apartment feel a lot less “homey” to have such a posting. One might as well put up a “no loitering” too. I can understand the landlord not wanting tenants to smoke inside the apartments but that is being ridiculous.

Yes. It has to be “tacky” or it wouldn’t “stick”.

How about making it into a little cross stitch so it looks more homey? Or maybe a little small sign on the door? Maybe that’s silly but I think a big orange and black sign may make people feel less at home and not take care of the place as well.

If you already have a no smoking clause in your lease it just seems kind of, well, I don’t know exactly what; I’m not sure if tacky is the word. Maybe naggy. :-) You you want to put it in an empty apartment, so I assume it is one you will showing to prospective tenants. If you are showing prospective prospective tenants the apartment mention the no smoking policy codified in the lease early on. Most people get it. Non-smokers won’t need the sign and smokers, most likely, won’t be interested in the apartment. And, if a smoker does rent it and is the kind of person who would violate the terms of the lease by smoking in the apartment, a sign isn’t going to make much difference.

I’ve been in apartments that had a no smoking clause in public areas. It didn’t make much difference though, because the hallways were closed at both ends. Anytime a smoker opened the door to their apartment, the smoke would drift out into the halls. We had some heavy smokers in our building, and it was NASTY! It made our apartment stink too. A no smoking sign in the hallway would have meant absolutely nothing.

When going over the lease (heck, before that, when MARKETING the apartment) begin by making clear that it’s a no smoking building. Remind them when you do the move in walk through, and remind them AGAIN when you hand them the keys, and make sure they know that you live downstairs and will know if someone smokes. Remind them that if they smoke in their apartment they could be evicted.
If they have already moved in, (depending on the state you live in, California advice here) serve a 3 day notice to perform conditions/and or covenants of the lease. If the smoking continues, you can either evict them on the 3 day notice, (sometimes really hard to prove) or choose not to renew their lease at expiration. Make sure you give at least 30 day’s noticed that you will not be renewing their lease and don’t tell them why. Just say you want possession of the apartment. You have every right to exercise this option, but once you admit to “why” a California judge might ask you to prove it if you have to evict them. California is the most resident friendly place except other places that have rent control. If you are in a rent control building, you have a whole different set of problems that I don’t know much about. Good luck!

I would just put a sign in the entry hall of the building maybe? That it is a smoke free property.

People can be a pain in the ass. They might still end up doing it even if you’ve reached an agreement before. I’d say put it up on the ceiling on top of the bed too.

Is it tacky? Yes, I think so. I also don’t think you could force the tenant to keep your sign up in their unit, since they rented it. They may take it down and put it back up when they are ready to move out. I know if I rented a unit I would not leave a sign up like that. It sounds like something you might see at a shelter or the Y.

I just want to add that I don’t care what other people do with their lives. I’m not a control freak…just the opposite, actually. If people want to smoke, that’s their business. But I don’t want to be forced to breathe second-hand smoke.

It’s like industrial pollution. Yes, you’re free to do what you want and live how you want, but you shouldn’t be allowed to pollute the air and water that other people have to use.

If you don’t want them smoking in the unit, just put that into the lease. Whether or not it’s enforceable, I am not sure. You might want to check with your local housing laws.

@jca , I have never heard of anyplace in the US where smokers are a protected class.

@Judi: I was referring to whether or not it’s enforceable to say someone can’t smoke in their own rented unit.

A landlord can evict someone for smoking in their own rented unit if they have set that rule. It would only be uninforcable if smokers were a protected class.