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?
As a smoker and previous resident of old leaky bldgs, I’ve found having a cheap air purifier on and the window cracked while smoking really cuts down on the smoke smell. There are also these things you can slide under the gap in the front door to make it more air tight, and prevent odors from escaping/entering apartments.
It’s a co-op btw, Invisible, not condo. Even worse!
This part illustrates the real problem:
“…the co-op president told me he told the smoker not to smoke on the stoop because the smoke was entering his (first floor) unit. This happened days before I made my first official complaint on the matter. The president cited this as a reason he couldn’t tell this man not to smoke in his apartment (which I never asked for)”
It’s what we experienced owning a co-op apartment too. It can be very cliquey and political when you have a board that looks out after their own individual interests first and foremost.
Number one, you absolutely SHOULD have asked for the tenant not to smoke in his apartment. If it’s not a rule already and I’m sure it is, it’s completely typical for co-op buildings in NYC not to allow smoking indoors. They just overlook it if it doesn’t bother anyone but this guy does bother others. OP, hire a lawyer today, now, and have the lawyer communicate directly with the board from this moment on. It’s totally inappropriate for the co-op board to tell you, an owner and shareholder, to deal directly with another owner’s TENANT on this issue. Ridiculous. This kind of thing is what sent us into brownstone ownership and as much as a PITA it is at times when I hear stories like this I am deeply grateful to be out of the whole co-op building experience.
You could print out your post and the responses and hand it to your neighbor, and explain to him how desperate you have become due to his smoking.
Otherwise, you can wait until lung cancer strikes him.
quote:
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.
such ridiculous hyperbole..
*rob*
ventilation in many buildings is abysmal, as you have found out. this situation is huge problem, and this is kind of a hot topic because everyone breathes everyone else’s air.
apply pressure to the problem. the board is jacking you around. no one really wants to deal with other people’s problems. so you usually have to make it everyone’s problem.
warranty of habitability. everything in writing. it can be respectful, referencing conversations you have had with the other unit owner as well as the board, but stressing how difficult basic life is for you. explain what you just wrote, sleeping in the kitchen on your mattress, how much you spent and did on our own behalf, who you approached in the building and the result.
registered letters to the owner below as well as the board, craft it in a detailed and clear way. (no apologies btw) it doesn’t matter that you are new to the building or the person before you was able to deal with it. you seem like more than a reasonable person. perhaps a little too nice given the gravity of your situation.
keep the copies of letters and return receipts (first letter use USPS, second letter use Fedex), and these documents will in turn will be referenced by your letter lawyer (yes, it will probably come to that, it takes a lot for a smoker to quit or sell)
that letter from your lawyer (say, a month from now) will be the defining moment of how bad your situation is. everyone will need to believe you can take this as far as it needs to go.
don’t take half assed attempts for a solution (yes, half-assed attempt is usually where these things end up “i’m trying to quit”, “i keep the windows open”…except when they don’t). keep fighting it. start nice and reasonable if you desire, but then have your lawyer take over so it doesn’t completely suck your soul.
for the sale of all nice people out there, don’t back down and give up even f it gets nasty. you should not be stuck with the bill of a polluter, which is exactly what this is. if they wish to chainsmoke, they must hermetically seal their own apartment at their own expense.
oh, and welcome to condo living. now you know why some of us buy brownstones!
is the smoker a hold over tenant or a fellow owner?
To answer some of the questions…
Yes, this impacts other residents in the building, but not to the same degree. The air outside of this apartment is similar to the air in my apartment. In fact, when I pass the apartment I can get a pretty accurate gauge as to how bad it will be when I get inside my apartment. The resident who lives next door to this person puts towels to line her front door to block the air out. The resident below the smoker says she smells it in her apartment but only infrequently — she is interested in making this a smoke free building, but is currently in the process of selling her unit. The co-op president smells it in the stairwell.
Another interesting part of this was the co-op president told me he told the smoker not to smoke on the stoop because the smoke was entering his (first floor) unit. This happened days before I made my first official complaint on the matter. The president cited this as a reason he couldn’t tell this man not to smoke in his apartment (which I never asked for)
You could look into some kind of ventilation system that introduces outside air into your apartment. If you increase the air pressure in your apartment to will keep air from other parts of the building from infiltrating, kind of like the way pressurized emergency exit stairwells work. You would definitely have to bring in an HVAC contractor.
Try to help him/her quit. Then you all win.