Property Owner/Manager

Smoke-free housing is a growing trend in multi-family housing. According to the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), approximately 86% of residents in Sarpy and Cass County do not allow smoking inside their home. 

Areas of multi-family housing units should already be smoke-free:

• Entry or exit areas          

• Gyms   

• Laundry rooms 

• Elevators            

• Restrooms                                                         

• Common traffic areas

• Lobby areas       

• Indoor swimming pools                                

• Recreational rooms

Property Owner Rights

• It is legal for apartment managers/owners to designate common areas, certain apartments or all of the apartments in a building as smoke-free.

• People who smoke are not protected under state and national anti-discrimination laws.

• Property owners have the legal right to restrict or prohibit smoking in their building(s), just as they are free to prohibit pets.

• Tenants who suffer from asthma or other respiratory diseases can take legal action against a property owner who does not take adequate measures to protect those residents from secondhand smoke.

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Making a Smoke-Free Change

1. Survey your tenants.

2. Set a time frame for the change.

3. Educate tenants of change and cessation services.

4. Introduce new leases or addendum's.

5. Post signs.

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T.E.A.M. is gathering information from multi-family housing property owners/managers in Sarpy & Cass Counties. If you are a property owner/manager please take a few minutes to complete this short survey. If you have questions about the survey, please call (402) 593-3022.

Interested in making your property tobacco-free? Contact T.E.A.M for your free tool kit or view our tool kit online below.

Residents

As a resident in a rental property, you have the right to live free of the leading cause of preventable death in the United States: secondhand smoke.

Secondhand Smoke in Your Home

The 2006 U.S Surgeon General’s report found:

• There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke

• Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.

• Ventilation and other air cleaning technologies cannot completely control exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke

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Click here for more information on resident rights and how to support smoke-free housing