Landlords and Smoke-Free Multi-Housing

Smoke free policies can help landlords protect their tenants from the dangers of secondhand smoke and provide benefits for the landlords' investment in their buildings.

If you have been thinking of adopting a smoke-free policy for your rental buildings, we encourage you to read through the information we have provided about your legal rights and the steps to go smoke free. You can also read the guidebook that Live Smoke Free has created as an overview to adopting a smoke-free policy (opens as a pdf in new window).

Once you have decided to go smoke free, Live Smoke Free can work with you to create a timeline for the process and assist you every step of the way. Live Smoke Free can send you a Smoke-Free Policy Kit to help you with policy adoption and implementation. The kit has free sample materials that will help you survey your tenants, craft a smoke-free lease addendum, and notify your tenants about the policy change. The kit also contains free signs for your building and ideas on how to publicize your smoke-free building. If you have decided to adopt a smoke-free policy, read the steps to go smoke free and contact Live Smoke Free to create a policy adoption plan.

The Smoke-Free Housing Directory is a free service for landlords to list their buildings that are currently smoke free. Live Smoke Free directs all tenant inquiries about smoke-free housing to the online directory.

A survey conducted by the Center for Energy and Environment found that while over 50% of Minnesota renters would prefer to live in a smoke-free building, only about 2% actually do live in a smoke-free building.⁽¹⁾

A smoke-free policy is a unique amenity that you can provide your tenants. Contact Live Smoke Free for a free consultation on how you can adopt a smoke-free policy for your rental buildings!

For Owner-Occupied Residents and Associations

If you live in a condominium, town home, co-op, common interest community, or other sort of owner-occupied unit, you may find much of our information useful. Information on secondhand smoke, research on smoke drift, and the benefits of smoke-free policies are similar for renters and unit-owners.

However, be aware that many legal issues and remedies are different for owner-occupied units and the legal information presented on this web site is for tenants in rented units. Live Smoke Free does not currently offer any fact sheets or information specifically for legal issues surrounding owner-occupied units. The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium has written Legal Options for Condominium Owners Exposed to Secondhand Smoke (opens as a pdf in new window).

Residents and association members of owner-occupied units can contact Live Smoke Free to learn some strategies to creating a smoke-free building. Live Smoke Free also has information on possible new research in the area of smoke-free owner-occupied housing.