Real Property Management Platinum

E-Cigarette and Rental Property

E-Cigarette No Smoking Policy

Oftentimes, rental applications will ask if the tenant smokes cigarettes. But what it’s not clear is does a ban on cigarette smoking in a rental home apply to e-cigarettes?  What is the deal with E-Cigarette and Rental Property Guidelines?

The majority of apartment communities have strict rules concerning smoking. Landlords want to protect non-smokers. However, many renters believe that e-cigarettes are not included in the smoking ban. To a smoker’s perspective, using e-cigarettes isn’t ‘smoking’ and the vapor produced isn’t ‘second hand’.  And so they keep asking if e-cigarettes should be restricted along with other nicotine products.

E-Cigarette and Rental Property

Property management companies abide to what their owners choose to do with their guidelines and rules of their property.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered electronic devices that look similar to cigarettes. The device uses liquid nicotine to produce a mist or vapor that can be inhaled. E-cigarettes smoking ban in rental homes has become more common in apartment communities for various reasons.

The attitudes towards vaping are quite negative among apartment dwellers as many of rental communities choose to treat e-cigarettes the same as traditional cigarettes.

Apartment owners or managers have the right to regulate tobacco use in rental homes, including e-cigarettes. Landlords fear that the smoke smell emitted can be unpleasant to non-smokers. If the steam produced when vaping contains chemicals that stain, then it is a problem. The landlord may forbid its use in a rental home even in a renter’s own unit.

Because e-cigarettes do not emit smoke but merely vapor, they tend to be odorless and difficult to detect. Proponents of e-smoking say that e-cigarettes are safer and less likely to intrude on the rights and health of non-smokers.

Nevertheless, health advocates still recommend that e-cigarettes not be used in shared spaces like rental homes as people will be exposed to vapors e-cigarettes give off.  E-Cigarette and Rental Property’s Guidelines can be different from State to State and Owner to Owner. Check with your Landlord or Property Management Company before lighting up that “vape”.