Second hand smoke/tenants' rights
This is a statement, not a question, but I found it interesting. The question has been asked on AMHD before.
If this should be moved to another section of AMHD, I'm sure it will be.
A Nassau County (NY) Judge has very recently ruled that a landlord’s failure to resolve a tenant’s complaints of cigarette smoke justifies the abatement of the tenant’s rent AND allows the tenant to break the lease without payment of rent to the end of the lease. (I do not yet have the actual case citation.)
The tenant’s claim for expenses (smoke damage/smell on furniture, clothing) was dismissed.
As I understand the case the tenant complained about the cigarette smoke in her apartment caused by other tenants. She did not pay rent for two months and moved, effectively breaking her lease. The landlord sued for the unpaid months - the two where she resided in the apartment and the balance until the end of the lease term.
The Court stated: “Landlords of such dwellings have a corresponding duty to prevent one tenant’s habits from materially interfering with another tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment. When a tenant’s smoking results in an intrusion of second-hand smoke into another tenant’s apartment, and that tenant complains repeatedly, the landlord runs a financial risk if it fails to take appropriate action.” The Judge said that the actual legal issue was whether the smoke was “so pervasive as to actually breach the implied warranty of habitability and/or cause a constructive eviction.”
The tenant met the burden of proof, and it was decided that the landlord’s actions in caulking and sealing vents were “Too little, too late, or included unacceptable conditions.”
A NY County Civil Court case (Poyck v Bryant) was cited. That Judge ruled that second-hand smoke comes under the protection of the warrant of habitability, NY Real Property Law Section 235-b.
