How to Keep Smoke from Another Unit Out of my Apt.
Yes, this is another post complaining about cigarette smoke from a neighbor. I’ve read previous posts on this topic and, as this is obviously a touchy issue, I would like to try a different approach, if possible. I purchased a co-op that I (mostly) love in Park Slope a year ago. The building was built…
Yes, this is another post complaining about cigarette smoke from a neighbor. I’ve read previous posts on this topic and, as this is obviously a touchy issue, I would like to try a different approach, if possible.
I purchased a co-op that I (mostly) love in Park Slope a year ago. The building was built in 1920 and I am on the top floor. During the months before closing, one of the residents in the unit below mine was not around. Shortly after moving in, he returned and I learned for the first time that there was a chain smoker in the building and there is a significant amount of shared air between our units.
The extremity and the frequency of the cigarette (and, occasionally less legal substances) smoke is beyond anything I could have imagined possible. Several times daily, it is as though there is someone smoking in the room with me. Mornings, my place smells like an ashtray. Sometimes I can smell the tobacco on my clothes even when I am outside of my apartment.
I informed the president of the co-op who instructed me to take it up with the tenants, which I have done now many, many times. They are always very nice. Sometimes, the problem seems to get better for a short period (although it has never gone away). It always returns as bad as ever, prompting me to have yet another conversation that sometimes is somewhat effective, sometimes not.
To try and fix the issue, I put in two additional layers of flooring. I sealed all the corners with expanding foam and/or caulk. I plugged the outlets. I even spent over $1100 on an air purifier specifically designed to address cigarette smoke. Needless to say, this continues to be a problem or I wouldn’t be writing here.
To complicate this issue, I have also been getting severe headaches on a regular basis (3-4 a month, each lasting for a day or two). I cannot conclusively tie the headaches to the smoke, as I used to get about one of these headaches once every two or three years. Suddenly the headaches are a regular occurrence. A nurse told me that cigarette smoke can be a trigger for cluster headaches.
I have spent many days in the bedroom to avoid the smoke in the living room and nights on the couch in the living room to avoid smoke in the bedroom. Twice, in desperation, I moved my mattress to the kitchen and slept there to get away from the smoke.
Unfortunately, selling is not an option for me because of the state of the housing market and the building flip tax. Not to mention all the money I have already invested in this unit.
Just writing this down here, the situation feels over-the-top, and at times it is. But nothing has been exaggerated or distorted. I would love any suggestions about regarding my options. What do the people on Brownstoner suggest? Is there something I have overlooked?
Its true, the city is full of smokers, dog-poopers, aggressive car drivers, holier-than-thou-cyclists, geese-gassers and other undesireables. What ya gonna do.
Just re-read your second post — I can’t believe the coop is tolerating this, as I’m surprised they don’t understand the impact on the value of their property. If you had smelled horrible smoke smells in the hallway when you were considering buying the apartment, would you have bought it???
You, tradmod, are fatuous & self-satisfied, not qualities I admire in friends or neighbors.
If things are as bad as you describe, and other owners are stuffing towels under their doors, etc., this is a serious issue for the coop as a whole.
People can laud row houses all they like, but I believe, in fact, you have more power in this type of situation living in a coop than in a row house, because no one actually owns their own apartment (technically) — all are lessees and are bound by the proprietary lease and other governing documents. Your next door neighbor in a row house can tell you to eff off and good luck getting anybody (ie the City) to intervene in that situation. In a coop, there are legal documents governing lessees behavior insofar as it affects other lessees in the building.
You should ask to present the situation at the next board meeting and request the board’s plan of action to solve the problem. It is the board’s responsibility to uphold the governing documents of the corporation.
If the board refuses to uphold the rules (and I am 100% certain there are rules in the governing documents that would be applicable in this situation), then I would find a lawyer to sue to board.
It sounds as if you have been very neighborly, friendly, etc., to no avail. Time to become more aggressive.
“Smoking is a choice not an entitlement. Which I myself was always conscious of as a smoker. ”
so is cooking stinky food – which my neighbors frequently do and the odors drift into my apartment, which i find annoying.
but i realize living in a densely populated city in a bldg with other people – it’s not all about me!!!
waaaaaaah
A man’s home is his castle – it’s a basic tenet of civil law. That you chose to go elsewhere is your privilege but enjoyment of one’s demesne isn’t regulated by anyone else.
I’m sorry. Reasonable people are not welcome here.
I think they were probably glad you left, Arkady. Co-ownership requires being considerate of others. Otherwise the whole thing breaks down.
I smoked in my 20’s, Arkady and NEVER ever ever at that time did I chainsmoke indoors in my apartment, knowing it would bother others. Smoking is a choice not an entitlement. Which I myself was always conscious of as a smoker.