Tenants

Write a letter to your building manager or landlord.

• Explain your problem and offer solutions.
• Keep copies of any correspondence.

Follow up by approaching your landlord to discuss the situation.

• Be positive, polite, and stick to the issue.
• Ask to work together to solve the problem instead of getting angry or yelling.

Offer solutions.

• Work with your landlord and offer to help think of or implement some solutions.
• Solutions could include conducting a tenant survey, holding a tenants' meeting, relocating to a different part of the building, or ending your lease early to find a smoke-free building.

Provide information.

• Give your landlord information on the dangers of being exposed to secondhand smoke.
• Explain the benefits of having a smoke-free building.

Emphasize that building owners can legally make their buildings smoke free.

• For HUD (Housing and Urban Development) units, point out that changing “House Rules” may be easier to accomplish than making a formal lease change.

Suggest that smoke-free units can be established.

• For current tenants, a smoke-free policy can be signed during each tenant's lease renewal.
• New tenants can start off smoke free.

• home
• landlords
• tenants
• tenant notification letter
• building's smoke-free policy
• model lease addendum