Steps to go Smoke Free
Live Smoke Free staff and materials are available for you to use when transitioning to a smoke-free building. Our services are free and can be tailored to meet your needs.
Step One: What is Your Situation?
- Are you planning for new construction?
A smoke-free policy can help maintain the building’s clean condition and protect your investment from day one.
- Are you renovating your building or purchasing an older building?
A smoke-free policy can help protect all of the hard work and money you may be putting into new carpet, paint, or fixtures.
- Are you moving ahead with a policy with no other changes to your building’s construction?
Many managers adopt a smoke-free policy without renovating or doing major changes to the building.
- Who determines policy decisions for your building?
Talk to the building's owner or other policy maker about the benefits of going smoke free.
- Decide which areas the policy will cover.
- Individual units: Covering all residential units ensures that smoke cannot drift from one unit to another unit in the building.
- Outdoor areas: Depending on your situation and location, you can choose to allow smoking in all outdoor areas, only allow smoking in designated outdoor areas, or prohibit smoking in all outdoor areas. Limiting or prohibiting smoking outdoors can help reduce smoke drifting into windows and reduce tobacco litter on your property.
- Common areas: The Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking in all common areas of all apartment buildings in Minnesota. Common areas include places such as hallways, laundry rooms, underground garages, rental offices, building entrances, exercise rooms, indoor swimming pool areas, and party rooms. For more information, see "Freedom to Breathe in Rental Apartment Buildings," created by the Minnesota Department of Health (opens as a pdf in a new window), or visit the Minnesota Clean Indoor Act web page at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/indoorair/mciaa/ftb/index.html.
- Live Smoke Free can offer consultations and presentations to your staff and tenants. We can offer assistance in deciding to go smoke free, adopting a smoke-free policy, and implementing a smoke-free policy.
Step Two: Survey Your Tenants
- Find out how many tenants smoke in their apartment units
- Not all households with smokers allow smoking in their units
- Some nonsmokers may allow guests to smoke
- Live Smoke Free has sample surveys and letters to send to tenants
- Conducting a survey serves two purposes:
- Gathers info
- Alerts tenants that change may be ahead
Step Three: Set a Quit Date
- Set a time frame for implementing the new policy
- Notify tenants of your reasons for going smoke free
- Live Smoke Free has a sample notification letter to send to tenants
- Inform tenants that at that time they will need to abide by the new policy if they wish to remain in the building
- Reasonable notice: You will want to notify your tenants about the policy change in a reasonable period of time. Depending on your building’s situation, reasonable notice could be 30-60 days.
- Renew leases using the Model Smoke-Free Lease Addendum or other comparable smoke-free policy
- Initiate all new leases with the smoke-free lease language
- There are a few different strategies for converting to a smoke-free building. Live Smoke Free can work with you to help you decide which process is best for your community.
- "Phase-in" method: This process typically takes one year (or the length of your longest lease period). Begin having new tenants who move into the building sign a smoke-free lease addendum or policy. Announce the policy change to current tenants and have them sign a smoke-free lease addendum or policy at the time of their lease renewal.
- "Quit-date" method: This process may only take a couple of months. Decide what date you would like the building to go smoke free. Give your tenants notice of the policy change and tell them that they must sign a smoke-free lease addendum or policy by a certain date (a few weeks before the policy change).
- NOTE: This does not mean that people who smoke must move out or are being "kicked out." Tenants who smoke can still live in the building as long as they abide by the smoke-free policy.
Step Four: Determine Incentives (if appropriate for your building)
- Offer tenants an incentive to sign the smoke-free policy early
- Incentives could include a free party room rental, a discount on a garage rental, a discount on the next month's rent, or other bonuses your building may be able to offer
- Consider offering the option for smoking tenants to move to another building in your complex
- For example, if only two tenants in Building A smoke, offer to pay for their moving expenses so that they can move to Building B so that Building A can become smoke free
Step Five: Post Signs and Notify Tenants
- Send out a reminder announcement to tenants a few days prior to the policy going into effect
- Post signs at the entrances to the buildings and anywhere else on your property where you want to ensure that no smoking occurs
Step Six: Advertise Your Policy
- Tenants are looking for smoke-free buildings
- Advertising that your building is smoke free will make it stand out to tenants searching for somewhere to live
- List it on Live Smoke Free’s online directory of smoke-free apartment buildings
- Yard signs advertising your smoke-free building are available for free from Live Smoke Free
Step Seven: Enforce Your Policy
- Smoke-free policies are largely self-enforcing
- Ensure that the lease language prohibits smoking and specifies that it is a violation of the lease to smoke in case an eviction becomes necessary
- Document violations and get witnesses who would be able to testify to incidents of smoking by tenant
- Enforce a smoke-free policy the way you’d enforce other policy or lease violations (ie, documented warnings and possible eventual termination)
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