Posted on 09/20/2006 9:06:26 AM PDT by restornu
A major landlord in the Prairie city of Winnipeg will not let new tenants smoke in their homes or on their balconies under new rules designed in part to cut maintenance costs, an official said on Tuesday.
Globe General Agencies said it will ban smoking for new Winnipeg tenants, and the policy could spread westward, to apartment buildings it manages in other Canadian cities.
"It's a trend in society," said Globe General Agencies President Richard Morantz.
"Most people will tell the truth and if they don't, ultimately the information's going to come out. We're not going to be going into apartments and checking for cigarettes, or anything like that."
The agency manages 5,000 apartments in 60 buildings in Winnipeg, as well as buildings in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Montreal.
Morantz said the new policy has cost and health benefits. When long-term smoking tenants vacate apartments, walls often have to be treated and carpets replaced.
The balcony ban comes because people often toss their butts on the ground and the agency doesn't want the mess.
The new policy will be effective October 1 and will not affect current tenants.
But Morantz said there were no plans to introduce the new policy in Quebec, where smoking is far more common than in Western Canada.
Some people have too much time on their hands to bother others in their private life!
How long before gov't decides to "level the playing field" for them by banning smoking in all apartments?
Of course, those who drink alcohol cause lots of damage to apartments. Spilling red wine, barfing, fighting and throwing things, being late on their rent.
I've lived in more than a few non smoking apartments right here in the USA. In the lease agreement for insurance purposes.
I don't like the anti-smoking zealots, but yes, the landlord can do what he wants. I remember happily paying more for an apartment that would let my cat stay. This is similar. It is not unlike car rental companies' non-smoking cars.
In a city the size of Winnipeg, I am sure there are plenty of landlords who will accept the displaced tenants.
And it's far from a new idea. I haven't lived in an apartment for at least 15 years and the last one I lived in was non smoking. I smoked at the time but the landlord said he didn't mind if I smoked on the porch.
Why should this landlord be forced to pay to repaint and recarpet if they can avoid it by going smoke free? This is free enterprise at its best. Don't want to give up smoking? Go find another landlord.
Isn't Manitoba where the provincial education department is promoting a sex manual for girls that graphically teaches how to perform lesbian sexual acts? Despite its rural character, it would appear that Manitoba is giving left wing American states like California, Massachusetts, and New York a challenge as to which jurisdiction can be more insanely liberal.
Well, that would be legal too, however there is an obvious difference. Plenty of people drink alcohol without damaging their apartments. It's impossible to smoke inside without covering the carpets and walls with soot (ok, without installing an industrial quality ventilation system and cleaning three times per day).
Don't want to give up smoking? Go find another landlord.
I don't and never smoke!
Landlords have the right to refuse to rent to smokers, parents and pet-owners but not gays, cohabitors, or Muslims.
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Carpets need to be clean in general especially when you get a new tenant!
BTW not all apts have carptets
By law where I live the Landlord is supposed to paint every 3 years and they always paint when new tenant moves in!
I am not a smoker don't like smoke!
I just think a person should be able to have somewhere for a refuge where one can relax and not be bug by the do's and don't of the PC police!
Yes, but they don't have to be replaced. Smoking means carpets need to be replaced more often, which is an additional cost to a landlord. Some may want to undertake that extra cost, but this one apparently doesn't. Don't like it? Rent from someone else.
I just think a person should be able to have somewhere for a refuge where one can relax and not be bug by the do's and don't of the PC police!
The police aren't doing anything here. There's no law against smoking in your home. This is a private contractual lease agreement, free from governmental interference, between two parties. Why do you care?
I think my point is being lost in this discussion I really don't a ratz about landlords and what they do or don't..
What I see is that soon the PC people(liberals are landlords too)(the conservative landlord has no rights!) will be so condition that they can rule over others even to those in their own home!
In Evansville, Indiana there is a $10,000 fine for throwing ciggy butts out of the car window. Talk about unreasonable. I would have to spend time in jail before I paid that amount.
Yup.. the landlord can do what he wants.
I can do as I want as well, if given a choice I would move. If not given a choice I would smoke in my apartment and flat out ignore the petty rules.
Property rights work both ways.
Not unreasonable. THROWING butts from the window is a purposeful act. You have the choice. Litter on purpose, pay the price.
See, I think this is anti-PC. This is simply a landlord making a cost/benefit analysis free from outside pressure or intervention. This is perfect capitalism. Now mabe the landlord made the wrong decision -- if so, he will be punished in the marketplace. This isn't PC or socialism or anything else. This is the beautiful simplicity of the free market.
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