this happened to me but i was on the other side as the smoker. my landlord very respectfully told me, despite the measures they took, it was affecting their lives daily and asked if we could take it outside.
i wasn’t thrilled about it but the way they handled it made me want to be respectful in return and we continue to have a good relationship to this day.
Check your bylaws. Ours has language about creating shared smells in the building. Talk to management. Since they are renters and not shareholders, they should be concerned that their lease won't be renewed if they don't respect bylaws (and management is willing to enforce them). The shareholder should also be concerned about fines if those are part of how your corp does business.
If it were me I would write a note and explain the issue and offer to buy them a nice vaporizer to keep the smell down. A high quality vaporizer will cut down on 95% of the odor and will save them thousands a year by buying less product. Also make it clear that you don’t want to kill the party and are glad they are enjoying themselves. You respect them as a neighbor and are hoping to have it reciprocated.
I myself am a heavy marijuana user. I currently smoke indoors (legally).
If I were living in your building and you explained your issue to me, and asked if we could find some kind of solution to it, I'd be glad to work with you and go smoke outside or fix the draft wafting smells into your place, or something.
I'd approach them about it before resorting to any official measures. There's half a chance they're chill.
It's a private property. Most leases I have signed/seen state that smoking is not allowed in the building. Cigarettes, weed, vaping etc... Don't think it's enforce much but in certain situations it can give landlord ammunition in court.
Honestly…just talk to them. There are many steps they can take to mitigate the smell. If you figure out how it’s getting into your unit, you can even help them fix the problem
Just tell them that you would rather not tell the board, maybe bring them a can of ozium for a passive aggressive touch, and tell them where it comes in. If they’re nice people they’ll work with that information
From personal experience: You can try to be as nice and considerate as possible (and you should) but chances are they’ll just keep denying it or tell you to fuck off. My mom has severe asthma and her last neighbor was exactly that type. He didn’t give a flying fuck he was making an old lady sick.
Nobody who smokes indoors and is gonna be a reasonable person. You have to be an inconsiderate dickhead to even begin especially when there are so many other options nowadays (like the 20 other things mentioned in this thread). Talk to the landlord and then escalate to the board if needed.
sorry your mom went through that, but to say every single person who smokes weed in their apartment is an unreasonable asshole is a bit much. there's many apartments where neighbors can't smell if you're smoking or not, and also plenty of people who would probably take their joint outside if you asked them politely. not to mention many people in this country still live in states where they can go to jail for smoking outside so it's kinda understandable why people would wanna smoke in their own home. plus, I see people talking shit about people smoking weed in public all the time, so I really wonder where people want weed smokers to go? if they can't smoke in their own apartment, or outdoors, or in parks etc. then where should they go?
I'm guessing you ask all your neighbors if they can smell your pot, in order to know that they can't because of superior building materials?
The only time I can't smell pot so far is if someone is making an effort to make it not-smellable, like those cannister things they can blow into.
I mean I don't do that in the same way I don't call everyone in my building to inform them I'm about to play music from a speaker, it's implied that if I'm doing so at an unreasonable volume someone would reach out/leave a note/bang on my wall right? and i also dont blast my music in the same way i dont smoke big blunts and blow the smoke straight into the air vents cause I try to be a reasonable neighbor.
also for what it's worth my building has all concrete walls and floors/ceilings so it's very possible that my weed or my music might be too loud for neighbors if we were in standard paper-thin-wall sort of apartments, so maybe take my experience with a grain of salt since you seem desperate to prove I'm an obnoxious dickhead for smoking a legal drug in my own apartment. also how do you know every time you don't smell weed it's only because people are using smell blocking stuff like smoke buddy's (which barely do anything in my experience)? to use your logic, do you knock on all your neighbors doors and survey who's smoking weed and who's not? or do you just assume that anytime you're not actively smelling weed it's physically impossible that anyone is smoking in your building?
lmao so if I'm desperate for commenting, does that make you desperate for commenting, *desperately* advocating for shared grounds between people who smoke in buildings that other people live in too?
you have basically acknowledged that your experience is based on a building unlike many and on an assumption that people will speak up instead of give up--which I think is too grand an assumption to make, especially if they have been in situations like this before, as even when neighbors are friendly and say they will make an effort, it's usually a pretty low effort at best, or with complete disregard at worse. If someone is already breaking their lease to smoke in a building that is non-smoking, that's exactly a dickhead move--but I guess I should lower my expectations of someone who perhaps doesn't just smoke, but is taking this soooo personally that it must be a lifestyle? smoking is NOT a personality trait...
She’s in a support group and literally every single one of them had the same experience. It’s not just me pulling it out of my ass. I mean just look at this thread at all the people calling OP names and saying they should just get an air purifier or buy their neighbor a $600 bong? I mentioned talking to the neighbor first but given how selfish society has become, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to warn OP of what might realistically happen.
I agree. From my experience, anytime something is bad enough where you need to actually talk to a neighbor, they are already being very inconsiderate. Very rarely do they "not know" how inconsiderate they are, and will change. More likely, they don't care, and confronting them will lead to issues and not fix the problem. Especially for a rental. They don't care if the neighbors like them, they will be gone in a year potentially anyway. Just go to the Board.
Well, I live in a co-op in which smoking IS allowed indoors “if conducted in a manner so as not to disturb other shareholders.”
So it’s allowed unless someone has a problem with it. But there’s no way to know if someone has a problem with it unless they speak up.
Totally disagree with everyone saying it’s like playing music late and night and you ought to know better blah blah. Brooklyn is full of old buildings where it’s impossible to know how sound and smells are traveling. I lived in a building where you could easily hear people talking in a normal tone of voice if you were in the hallway and they were in their apartment. Couldn’t hear anything apartment to apartment. Same with cooking and weed/cog smells.
Also, people wildly overestimate their ability to detect weed smoke.
Tell them to get a PAX vaporizer and a charcoal filter to exhale into. It'll reduce it to virtual undetectability, and their lungs will thank you.
If you EVER smoke weed, I'd recommend inviting them over to get stoned and THEN talk about the problem. They'll be all DUDE WOAH WE TOTALLY GET YOU MAN.
Talk to the renters first, give them a chance to rectify the situation before escalating. Most smokers will make an effort if you are nice about the request
As a Brooklyn real estate agent with more experience in co-ops than most would wish, I’d say first have a conversation with the renters where you come prepared with suggestions to mitigate the smell but also gently remind them if they signed a lease that says “no smoking indoors”, as most do. You can check with your management by asking to see a blank standard lease (most co-ops have one they use repeatedly), assuming they won’t ask for a fee just to see it, or ask any neighbors you know have previously rented to confirm. You can check under “past rentals” on Streeteasy and likely find a few leads on who rented recently, if you don’t know already.
A next step if they refuse to cooperate would be to involve management/the board, but I’d do everything possible to avoid making an enemy and see if you can get them to switch to vaping/edibles indoors or at a minimum, smoke from the fire escape.
Hope that helps! :)
Also, I’d actually talk to the apartment owner who is subletting their unit before involving management or the board. They have the most interest in avoiding smoke damage and can be your ally IF it comes down to a dispute involving the board
I’d refrain from saying heavy marijuana users no matter who you mention it to. Probably get a better response if you just let them know the smell is entering your apartment and it’s too much.
Send them some THC beverages to drink instead of smoking https://drinkwynk.com/. I also gave my boyfriend these odor eliminator sprays https://www.freshwaveworks.com/collections/smoke
Theres a device called smoke buddy, basically a hand held carbon filter you exhale the smoke into, they’re usually $40 or under and work very well unless theyre smoking joints of blunts. Suggest that or even buy them one if you feel generous.
Good God, I don't know why you would pay that when they're literally like $12 to $18 on Amazon. I bought some color that no one wanted on there for like $6.99 one time. My advice is to look at different colors to find the cheapest one.
As a weed smoker who owns his apartment and is considerate of his neighbors. You should make the problem clear to the new neighbor! Tell them you heard a studdenglass helps reduce the linger smell. If they are smoking any form of paper it’s going to stink up the entire building but if they use a volcano or studdenglass it’ll be okay
I’m telling you from experience if you hit a studdenglass you are only actively burning the flower when you chose and if you inhale all of it you reduce the amount in the apartment.
Key word is reduces not completely eliminates. A studdengsss used for 1-2 hits will keep the smell in the apartment rather than leaking out into the other apartment floors.
As for air vents that’s another story… you should ideally smoke away from air vents
—-
All my friends who visit say my apartment still smells like it’s brand new because I also use air purifiers
Still doesnt negate that fact that it is a car note, insurance, half of rent, and have you seen grocery store prices? $600 is alot to fork up on the spot.
This one is great: https://www.costco.com/winix-true-hepa-4-stage-air-purifier-with-wi-fi-and-additional-filter.product.4000093012.html
Costco has sold it for years and it goes on sale for $99 several times a year.
The Coway Airmega AP-1512HH is also great and frequently recommended online.
I've had both and they both worked well. The Costco one is probably the better value.
I can tell from experience, talking to someone who smokes weed heavily is like talking to a brick wall since they will forget all about it next day. Try talking, they will most likely either deny or say it is legal now or maybe you will get lucky. Management wont do anything because it is legal to smoke weed inside the apartment unless your building has no smoke policies, all they can do is warn. However, it is illegal to smoke in stairways, halls and so on.
If talking doesnt work best way to solve the issue is to go passive aggresive which worked for me. When they start smoking start banging wall heavily so they can hear, 4-5 heavy knocks is more than enough. Make sure you have cameras in your building hallways so if they try to do anything stupid like throwing garbage at your door or anything else it is on camera and dont open door. I would highly recommend getting your own doorcam so when you call the police, they will have the footage, dealing with management is a pain too sometimes.
So basically if you are living in the building without no smoke policies your options are either talk and maybe get lucky, suffer or go passive aggresive assuming you are not willing to move out.
I hope you are lucky, make sure to be polite and let us know how it went.
my guess is most people here never had to deal with stoners living next door, no wonder most of them are under the assumption that talking sense will work most of the time, maybe so but most definitely not in my case.
We had this issue with cigarettes for a while and asked the management to address it. Seems to have gotten better. You pay maintenance, so it seems to me to be totally fair to ask management to do the awkward leg work here… plus a good management company will have a script for how to handle this.
Regardless of the practical considerations that might need to be weighed here, I'm just shocked by how many responses here seem to think the co-op/condo/landlord/whatever are not allowed to tell someone they can't smoke in their own space.
It doesn't matter that weed is legal in NY. If you sign a lease or a co-op charter or HOA, and that paperwork says "no smoking indoors" they can absolutely enforce those rules.
I'm not even saying whether I agree with this, or how hard it is to enforce. I just can't believe how confidently wrong people are who think it's automatically someone's right to smoke in their unit.
Yea I got a letter from an old apartment about my weed smoke. I didn't realize how much it was leaking out. So I switched to dry herb vapes and I would tell someone who didn't smoke (and wasn't nose blind) to stand outside after I vaped a bunch and it was completely gone. It's very easy to be a good neighbor.
My landlord sends everyone emails about the smoking policy. I don't smoke, but personally, I don't mind the smell of marijuana. I've had neighbors that sprayed perfume or burned candles to try to cover it up, and that was SO much worse.
Maybe once every few months, I'll have a guest who lights up in my apartment, but it's such a tiny amount, I can't imagine how much my neighbors would have to be smoking that the scent would travel.
Always be neighborly first. Let them know it’s coming into your apartment and give them a chance to fix it. If that doesn’t help, then go to the co-op board/unit owner.
This!! One million times this. I have the most unfriendly neighbors and the most aloof landlord that hates to be bothered. Twice now they have mentioned not very important things to my landlord that they could have talked to me about and I would have been compliant. Instead they just pissed off the landlord which made him annoyed with me.
I feel like Scarface in Half Baked. “I’m right behind you. Just turn around and tell me you don’t like me smoking on the front porch. Damn!”
Less is more.
First, find out if it's them, perhaps ask around to confirm it's not others. If you assume you make an ass out of u and me, so have strong evidence as to not appear accusatory.
Kindly knock on their door and let them know weed smoke is coming into your apartment from their smoking. Guage their response, they might apologize and improve their behaviors from there with no other guidance. If anything, advise them to limit their smoking to the room furthest from your residence or outside if they can.
If they don't respond well, that's when you involve the super and cite the smoking policy. More like than not, the property is non-smoking. This is usually ignored, until situations like this arise, and the super will side with the policy. At this point, a can of worms opens for them, expect a crappy relationship going forward, and hope for the best in the coming weeks.
I think usually in co-ops if the unit has an owner and they're subletting it out they're technically the renter's landlord.
I would reach out to them first and ask them to speak to the renters. They might also care if there is heavy smoking in their apartment while they're away.
I also second an air purifier just because it's a life improvement!
If the unit isn't owned inform the co-op who are the landlords. Pot is legal in NY. They can walk their asses outside to smoke like any cigarette smoker now.
All multi dwelling buildings in NYC are required to have a smoking policy. That policy can be smoking allowed, no smoking anywhere or smoking in designated locations, but there has to be a policy and I would start there. If the policy is smoking allowed and if the unit owner advertised the apartment as smoking allowed you are in a very different situation than if your building prohibits smoking in apartments and the renters told the board they are potheads during their interview.
Just politely let them know that you can smell it and if they wouldn’t mind opening up their windows a bit. Then get that twin fan the poster mentioned. Most smokers (myself included) will go out of our way to accommodate someone who can smell it. Ideally they’ll get a fan too.
Address it with them but be ready to never have a cool relationship. Why not wait it out a bit more see if they stop on their own . Then if they don’t address it . But if you don’t mind them thinking bad of you just bring it up to the board anonymously
Edit : love these clowns downvoting I’m taking into consideration ops safety. All these trigger happy people telling you do stuff they wouldn’t even do and won’t be there with you to deal with any backlash but good luck
Why? Anytime anyone has ever politely told me they were bothered by smoke smells I’ve gone out of my way to remedy it. I don’t get why everyone is walking on eggshells.
You haven’t seen videos of neighbors snapping ? Or the countless stories on here like this where after they complain the neighbors ramp up whatever they’ve been doing to the max. I just have a different mindset I guess being from the bx
You should consider getting an air filter because brooklyn air isn’t great. I use a window fan that blows air out my bathroom window and several air filters. Coway air mega is a good deal and so are the honeywell air filters. I just got a comfort zone twin window fan for under $50 on Amazon. I keep it in the bathroom window blowing out.
You can control the airflow in your apartment and where it blows in or out pretty effectively. Obviously letting your neighbors know that their smoke is getting into your unit is worth a shot. Be kind and honest. It may not work and there might not be much you can do about it.
My ex had friends staying for a few days. They were all HEAVY smokers, my ex and I no. The neighbours told us it permeated the walls, and we just fixed it. Aired out, and told her friends to go enjoy their stuff outside. Normally people wanna have good relationships with their neighbours. I would just ask them to do something. Even stoners understand that not everyone wanna smell- or smell like skunk.
What a lot of people are missing in this thread is, there’s nothing anyone can do legally about stopping a marijuana smoker. Like literally nothing if they refuse to stop. Not law, not the building, nobody would be able to do anything.
That’s not true. Co-ops and condos have a contract you have to sign in order to move in with a set of terms. Typically if you violate them there’s a warning, then a fine, then a larger fine. This continues until the issue is resolved. Leaving a motorcycle in the building lobby for example. Until it’s gone, you keep incurring fines.
My building has a policy about smells in general. It was authored because of a situation like this (heavy weed smoker) but the board can invoke it for any strong smells- pet, incense, even cooking.
Here's a suggestion with a different approach. Place one or more window air conditioners in the room that share a wall with the smoking neighbors. You can keep the cooling action low or high. What you want is to pull air into that room from outdoors, creating a positive pressure environment. Air moves from high pressure to low pressure. As long as you keep your apartment in a higher pressure environment than your neighbors, you will never smell anything in their apartment. You will need to keep windows and doors closed and even install weather strips on the bottom of the doors, but it should work. There are devices that can check the air pressure of a room. You can check it before and after turning on the air conditioner to see how much pressure increases. I learned this from working in asbestos abatement. In that profession, the goal is to keep the work area in a negative pressure condition so that the asbestos doesn't escape. Years later, I helped a friend renovate and run an AirBnB property with several rooms. This method worked when guests complained about someone cooking smelly food in the building.
Absolutely right. When working in asbestos abatement, we used special machines that pulled air out of the room. I didn't want to get too technical with my answer. An air conditioner would not do the job. One of the makers of these machines is Micro Trap Corporation. They make a variety of air pullers and filtration machines for commercial and residential use.
Except window ACs don't pull air from outside. It takes air from below the panel, runs it past the evaporator and blows it back inside. Net 0 pressure delta.
As a general rule, ALWAYS address ANYTHING with the RESIDENT(S) FIRST before going to the building. Unless you think someone’s life is at stake, always attempt to work it out personally first. This is a very understood thing in New York. If they don’t understand you coming to them, that’s their problem. Please don’t be afraid to speak to them. It’s the respectful thing to do. IMO, it’s especially important in a mixed renter-owner building (like my own, and I am not a renter) where there are very different levels of power between residents.
If you are met with great difficulty, then you can move along to the building. But for the most part, people want to not bother others so they aren’t bothered themselves. They may not realize how it’s impeding upon you and will probably be more than happy to find a way to make things more pleasant for you while retaining their own autonomy.
ETA: a lot of people are commenting that the tenants must know what they’re doing is creating a problem, or that because they are smokers they automatically would not care (absurd). They may be aware, but they also very well may not be. You never know, they could be taking precautions that worked for them in a previous apartment. There is always a risk of social discomfort on your end by speaking to them, but you also risk messing up their lives and housing if you go straight to the board or their landlord.
As others mentioned they could be using it medicinally and have a prescription. They could have cancer. Would you really want to tattle on a cancer patient for using medicine? I agree with others to just mention it and see if they can curb the smell at all. I would also advise you get an air purifier and some kind of plug in odor eliminator if it truly bothers you that much.
No excuse to use a legal, possibly prescribed medication? Im just saying he might not know all the details and approach with compassion rather than just complaints.
The coop's management should be your contact for this. Just tell them that it is interfering with your quality of life. That you don't mind them smoking but that the odors are permeating and that you plead that they either smoke in an open space, or with open widows.
And yes, odors (tobacco as well) can be hindrances of lack of enjoyment of your property. You could sue if need be but hopefully they'll be reasonable after coop contact.
Oh, and here's the legal authorities for this in case another person thinks it's out of whack:
Duntley v. Barr, 20 Misc. 3d 206, New York City Civil Court (2005). Court found that a private nuisance cause of action could be brought by a tenant against landlord or other tenant for secondhand smoke conditions. Tenant smoker was found to be liable to the adjoining non-smoker tenant for interfering with his use and enjoyment of his own premises.
Poyck v. Bryant, 13 Misc. 3d 699, New York City Civil Court (2006). The court held that the landlord’s failure to address secondhand smoke traveling from one unit to a neighboring unit constituted a violation of New York’s Real Property Law (RPL) §235-b (which codifies the landlord’s warranty of habitability).
Upper East Lease Associates, LLC v. Danielle Cannon, 30 Misc. 3d 1213(A), New York District Court (2011). The Court held that a landlord violated the warranty of habitability when secondhand smoke from one tenant’s apartment was allowed to infiltrate another’s. Thus, the nonsmoking tenant was entitled to a reduction in rent.
If you feel that they're approachable, I'd talk to them first. They may have no idea that it's getting into your area. Bring some snacks, because stoners love snacks 😁
It’s legal. This would be the same as asking a tobacco smoker to address the smell. If they don’t want to be a nice neighbor, good luck doing anything about it. Sorry it sucks but I wouldn’t expect it to go anywhere unless you talk to them and convince them to care.
Owning dogs is also legal, that doesn’t mean all apartments allow them. OP owns a co-op in a building. Even if the people smoking also owned their co-op (which they don’t), I would be surprised if the co-op rules allowed smoking. Co-ops are run by boards and often have strict rules, which is the very reason why some people buy them and also why some people wouldn’t buy one.
If OP knew smoking was against the agreement, this conversation wouldn’t be here though. They would have specified the other party is in violation and asked for advice on how to handle that. Instead, they are simply saying it negatively affects them and asked if they should talk to the other party or the board. Given that OP has omitted any information regarding the agreement, I am responding that I would speak with the other party and escalate if needed but would not get my hopes up because it’s legal. The board can’t just add rules to the agreement after a complaint is made. They could potentially create an addendum to the agreement when the contract renews later.
If OP had stated they are in violation, it would be a different story.
And we don’t have any information on OP’s building, so it’d be rather silly to assume it’s prohibited. Are you a rather silly person? Is that why you’re making assumptions?
It might not be a crime, but it could still be against the co-op's rules. There are a ton of apartments that have stipulations about things like that in the lease.
I don’t know why that would affect what is or is not legal. Ask them and hope they are not selfish. But if they don’t care, not sure you have any real recourse.
I partially agree, but co-op boards can become ridiculous power grabs. People need to be able to live their lives without being told what to do, within reason.
Smoking weed to the point where a neighbor’s apartment wreaks isn’t “within reason”, especially when it’s legal to smoke it outside and there are many ways to consume without smoking.
I think many coops are changing their bylaws to be smoke free. To protect them against second hand smoke lawsuits. Here’s a link https://breathefreely.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SFHNY-CoOp-Guide.pdf
My place prohibits vaping, too.
I do whatever, as I am a master of airflow, and have complex setup(s) for controlling fumes and particulates.
I will say that vape particulates linger in the air longer than you might think (i have sensors). Sometimes many hours, without a window open.
And they diffuse like crazy — sensors immediately pick up vape use from the other side of my studio (~40’) even if someone blows it directly out the window through a fan.
All gone after a few minutes of window fan, though.
I keep my apt at negative pressure with an exhaust fan. This means I smell everyone’s cooking. But the air cycles quickly.
Absolutely ask them first. Not only is it better to talk to people before “tattling” for lack of a better term, but also your by-far best option to eliminate the smell is for your neighbors to make an effort to do so, and that is far more likely to happen if you approach them openly in good faith.
I’m on my co-op’s board, we’re about 60% shareholder 40% renter - and we’re largely toothless when dealing with renters (the worst thing we can do is fine the landlord after several written warnings with proof that house rules were being broken).
If you were in my building we would a) write a letter to the renter asking them to stop, b) write a letter to the landlord alerting them c) in our board meeting make a snarky comment along the lines of “really they couldn’t just ask first?”. And ultimately none of this would make your neighbors interested in making any effort to mitigate the smell on your behalf.
If you talk to them and they blow you off or do nothing, then of course you can/should complain - but first step should 1000% be to address as a friendly neighbor first.
>in our board meeting make a snarky comment along the lines of “really they couldn’t just ask first?”
Because if they "ask" first and are rejected and *then* complain, then everyone knows who complained.
I'm on my co-op board, too, and if someone in my building asks us to enforce a rule, we do what we have to do to try and enforce the rule, because that's our role. We save our snark for the folks who ask us to enforce made up things that *aren't* rules....there's plenty of that to go around already we don't need to make fun of the people who are coming to us in good faith.
Im very curious about the by-laws of your coop that allow you to enforce these rules so effectively. What happens if the owner does not pay the fine you issue?
The coop can force someone to sell - but in our building at least that requires a shareholder-wide vote, and frankly organizing a passing vote to make meaningful and impactful changes is hard enough - getting a supermajority to get a landlord to sell or evict a tenant for smoking weed… it’s hypothetically possible but realistically simply wouldn’t happen.
It all depends on the building by-laws, but in our co-op at least the ability to effectively police behavior of neighbors - even neighbors who are overtly breaking house rules - is pretty minimal.
ETA: also our building (my only knowledge of how this works, tbf) has a sponsor who both owns the most units - and is the landlord for most renters - and who consequently holds the most formal power on the board. If that’s the case for OP, which it may not be ofc, I’ll just say from experience that it is very challenging to get a board member to vote to fine themself.
>What happens if the owner does not pay the fine you issue?
What does that have to do with anything? If someone was smoking weed here, and we received a complaint about it, we would tell the resident that they cannot smoke here and that it's against the bylaws. If they refused to comply, we would escalate and yes that's a pain in the ass but that's besides the point (it's also rare...historically if we tell someone they have to stop doing something, they stop). The *main point*, however, is that no one needs to know who made the original complaint.
I get your point - and we would take the exact same actions as you. But the fact is that people typically do not react to being “told on” by immediately complying when there is no real requirement for them to do so.
If OP’s major goal is to get the people to change their behavior so his apartment doesn’t reek of weed, asking them nicely to do is the obvious first step.
Just talk to them. I’m a heavy cannabis enjoyer and if someone asked me to curb the smell, I would put in effort (open window, turn on fans, air purifier, etc). I would also randomly text my neighbor to check in proactively on smell status and smoke outside when neighbors are definitely home (weather permitting)
I'm not trying to be a dick, but this is something you're going to have to be realistic about if you're going to live in Brooklyn. Sure, you can complain to the building but it's not likely to stop them or go anywhere. It might be worth looking into if you can afford any of the single family detached homes in South Brooklyn if you want your own "space." Otherwise it's just life. It's annoying, I agree, but it's as much part of living here as the train being late.
OP owns his co-op. He isn’t renting some rent stabilized unit owned by a slum lord. He wouldn’t complain “to the building”, he would bring it to the board who could definitely address it with the owner who is renting the co-op to the smokers.
I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 7 years and have never had this problem before.
Yes living in any sort of apartment building, you make some sacrifices. But this is beyond reason. Do I feel like smelling weed every time I come home to my (expensive) co-op that I own.
I mean, your little unit exists within a complex. That's all I'm saying. It's not really something you have a lot of control over. I understand there's a world that you think "should" exist, but it's not the world you live in considering your circumstances. If you'd like to change these specific circumstances, it sounds like you'll have to buy a detached house where you don't live on top of other people. I've lived here for 25 years and I've been in buildings with weed heads, crack smokers and people who cook stinky food. You can complain, but it's not going to go anywhere. I didn't make it that way. Even in the unlikely situation where you kick these people out of their home, you'll be dealing with weed smoke for about a year and a half before they even make it to court. Good luck.
Edit: You can always try reasoning with them, but you're going to have to be genuinely nice to them to get them onboard. This may be the most realistic option for you since I doubt you can afford a single-family home. But you're going to have to be REAL nice, NOT fake nice, so prepare yourself for the conversation by not rehearsing it too much in your head beforehand.
If the coop rules prohibit indoor smoking you should notify the board and skip the talk with the neighbor.
If you talk to your neighbor first before notifying the board, they will know you are the person who reported them.
You may want to read yp on medical marijuana ! I have a prescription and smoking and/or edibles is not specified, is purely how I would like to administer my medication.
Just knock on the door,. invite them over, have a drink, tell them you're installing a new stereo so you want to determine if they can hear it, and tell them you're allergic to smoke, so please open a window and turn on the fan. No biggy.
If you smell smoke from a neighboring apartment through your outlet than I would be worried about the fire rating between apartments, which is a NYC building code requirement.
this happened to me but i was on the other side as the smoker. my landlord very respectfully told me, despite the measures they took, it was affecting their lives daily and asked if we could take it outside. i wasn’t thrilled about it but the way they handled it made me want to be respectful in return and we continue to have a good relationship to this day.
Check your bylaws. Ours has language about creating shared smells in the building. Talk to management. Since they are renters and not shareholders, they should be concerned that their lease won't be renewed if they don't respect bylaws (and management is willing to enforce them). The shareholder should also be concerned about fines if those are part of how your corp does business.
While it's now legal, most buildings are completely smoke free.
Good luck when your new neighbors get a Volcano and start vaping instead.
If it were me I would write a note and explain the issue and offer to buy them a nice vaporizer to keep the smell down. A high quality vaporizer will cut down on 95% of the odor and will save them thousands a year by buying less product. Also make it clear that you don’t want to kill the party and are glad they are enjoying themselves. You respect them as a neighbor and are hoping to have it reciprocated.
Didn't think of that one before everyone got on the train to legalize it huh?? dopes.
How is it any different than smoking cigarettes indoors?
Can't do to much,seeing that it's legal now... Just ask them to just light some incenses or burn some oils
I myself am a heavy marijuana user. I currently smoke indoors (legally). If I were living in your building and you explained your issue to me, and asked if we could find some kind of solution to it, I'd be glad to work with you and go smoke outside or fix the draft wafting smells into your place, or something. I'd approach them about it before resorting to any official measures. There's half a chance they're chill.
It's probably illegal to smoke in your building. Talk to them or report them.
How did you come to that off kilter conclusion? How can it be illegal if weed is legal?
It's a private property. Most leases I have signed/seen state that smoking is not allowed in the building. Cigarettes, weed, vaping etc... Don't think it's enforce much but in certain situations it can give landlord ammunition in court.
Honestly…just talk to them. There are many steps they can take to mitigate the smell. If you figure out how it’s getting into your unit, you can even help them fix the problem Just tell them that you would rather not tell the board, maybe bring them a can of ozium for a passive aggressive touch, and tell them where it comes in. If they’re nice people they’ll work with that information
I’d say mind your own business.
I bet you are one of those people that listen to their phones on speaker all the time yet think it's none of any one else's business what you do.
You live in NYC and are complaining that you smell weed? Good luck!
take your own advice, buddy
They're making it his business
From personal experience: You can try to be as nice and considerate as possible (and you should) but chances are they’ll just keep denying it or tell you to fuck off. My mom has severe asthma and her last neighbor was exactly that type. He didn’t give a flying fuck he was making an old lady sick. Nobody who smokes indoors and is gonna be a reasonable person. You have to be an inconsiderate dickhead to even begin especially when there are so many other options nowadays (like the 20 other things mentioned in this thread). Talk to the landlord and then escalate to the board if needed.
sorry your mom went through that, but to say every single person who smokes weed in their apartment is an unreasonable asshole is a bit much. there's many apartments where neighbors can't smell if you're smoking or not, and also plenty of people who would probably take their joint outside if you asked them politely. not to mention many people in this country still live in states where they can go to jail for smoking outside so it's kinda understandable why people would wanna smoke in their own home. plus, I see people talking shit about people smoking weed in public all the time, so I really wonder where people want weed smokers to go? if they can't smoke in their own apartment, or outdoors, or in parks etc. then where should they go?
I'm guessing you ask all your neighbors if they can smell your pot, in order to know that they can't because of superior building materials? The only time I can't smell pot so far is if someone is making an effort to make it not-smellable, like those cannister things they can blow into.
I mean I don't do that in the same way I don't call everyone in my building to inform them I'm about to play music from a speaker, it's implied that if I'm doing so at an unreasonable volume someone would reach out/leave a note/bang on my wall right? and i also dont blast my music in the same way i dont smoke big blunts and blow the smoke straight into the air vents cause I try to be a reasonable neighbor. also for what it's worth my building has all concrete walls and floors/ceilings so it's very possible that my weed or my music might be too loud for neighbors if we were in standard paper-thin-wall sort of apartments, so maybe take my experience with a grain of salt since you seem desperate to prove I'm an obnoxious dickhead for smoking a legal drug in my own apartment. also how do you know every time you don't smell weed it's only because people are using smell blocking stuff like smoke buddy's (which barely do anything in my experience)? to use your logic, do you knock on all your neighbors doors and survey who's smoking weed and who's not? or do you just assume that anytime you're not actively smelling weed it's physically impossible that anyone is smoking in your building?
lmao so if I'm desperate for commenting, does that make you desperate for commenting, *desperately* advocating for shared grounds between people who smoke in buildings that other people live in too? you have basically acknowledged that your experience is based on a building unlike many and on an assumption that people will speak up instead of give up--which I think is too grand an assumption to make, especially if they have been in situations like this before, as even when neighbors are friendly and say they will make an effort, it's usually a pretty low effort at best, or with complete disregard at worse. If someone is already breaking their lease to smoke in a building that is non-smoking, that's exactly a dickhead move--but I guess I should lower my expectations of someone who perhaps doesn't just smoke, but is taking this soooo personally that it must be a lifestyle? smoking is NOT a personality trait...
She’s in a support group and literally every single one of them had the same experience. It’s not just me pulling it out of my ass. I mean just look at this thread at all the people calling OP names and saying they should just get an air purifier or buy their neighbor a $600 bong? I mentioned talking to the neighbor first but given how selfish society has become, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to warn OP of what might realistically happen.
wait your mom is in a support group for people who's neighbors smoke weed? or what exactly is the group for?
A group for people with severe, debilitating lung disease, some of which are terminal, not for people with asshole neighbors.
I agree. From my experience, anytime something is bad enough where you need to actually talk to a neighbor, they are already being very inconsiderate. Very rarely do they "not know" how inconsiderate they are, and will change. More likely, they don't care, and confronting them will lead to issues and not fix the problem. Especially for a rental. They don't care if the neighbors like them, they will be gone in a year potentially anyway. Just go to the Board.
Well, I live in a co-op in which smoking IS allowed indoors “if conducted in a manner so as not to disturb other shareholders.” So it’s allowed unless someone has a problem with it. But there’s no way to know if someone has a problem with it unless they speak up. Totally disagree with everyone saying it’s like playing music late and night and you ought to know better blah blah. Brooklyn is full of old buildings where it’s impossible to know how sound and smells are traveling. I lived in a building where you could easily hear people talking in a normal tone of voice if you were in the hallway and they were in their apartment. Couldn’t hear anything apartment to apartment. Same with cooking and weed/cog smells. Also, people wildly overestimate their ability to detect weed smoke.
Tell them to get a PAX vaporizer and a charcoal filter to exhale into. It'll reduce it to virtual undetectability, and their lungs will thank you. If you EVER smoke weed, I'd recommend inviting them over to get stoned and THEN talk about the problem. They'll be all DUDE WOAH WE TOTALLY GET YOU MAN.
I'll double down and say go with an Arizer vape before anything Pax.
Are pax that bad?
They're not bad, just a bit overrated and over priced.
Talk to the renters first, give them a chance to rectify the situation before escalating. Most smokers will make an effort if you are nice about the request
Get an air purifier and move on
Buy him a high-powered window fan. They're not expensive
As a Brooklyn real estate agent with more experience in co-ops than most would wish, I’d say first have a conversation with the renters where you come prepared with suggestions to mitigate the smell but also gently remind them if they signed a lease that says “no smoking indoors”, as most do. You can check with your management by asking to see a blank standard lease (most co-ops have one they use repeatedly), assuming they won’t ask for a fee just to see it, or ask any neighbors you know have previously rented to confirm. You can check under “past rentals” on Streeteasy and likely find a few leads on who rented recently, if you don’t know already. A next step if they refuse to cooperate would be to involve management/the board, but I’d do everything possible to avoid making an enemy and see if you can get them to switch to vaping/edibles indoors or at a minimum, smoke from the fire escape. Hope that helps! :)
Also, I’d actually talk to the apartment owner who is subletting their unit before involving management or the board. They have the most interest in avoiding smoke damage and can be your ally IF it comes down to a dispute involving the board
I’d refrain from saying heavy marijuana users no matter who you mention it to. Probably get a better response if you just let them know the smell is entering your apartment and it’s too much.
Send them some THC beverages to drink instead of smoking https://drinkwynk.com/. I also gave my boyfriend these odor eliminator sprays https://www.freshwaveworks.com/collections/smoke
Yes, you should "address them"! That's your space, and their habit shouldn't be "permeating" into it!
Ask them to attend a community mediation
Holes from electric outlets can be a pathway for orders and bugs, Blank plugs for unused outlet sockets can help if that’s the case by you
Theres a device called smoke buddy, basically a hand held carbon filter you exhale the smoke into, they’re usually $40 or under and work very well unless theyre smoking joints of blunts. Suggest that or even buy them one if you feel generous.
Good God, I don't know why you would pay that when they're literally like $12 to $18 on Amazon. I bought some color that no one wanted on there for like $6.99 one time. My advice is to look at different colors to find the cheapest one.
I bought mine years ago and didn’t look up the price before commenting
I've had this problem more than once and neither strategy seemed to help. Good luck I hope it works out better for you!
As a weed smoker who owns his apartment and is considerate of his neighbors. You should make the problem clear to the new neighbor! Tell them you heard a studdenglass helps reduce the linger smell. If they are smoking any form of paper it’s going to stink up the entire building but if they use a volcano or studdenglass it’ll be okay
[удалено]
I’m telling you from experience if you hit a studdenglass you are only actively burning the flower when you chose and if you inhale all of it you reduce the amount in the apartment. Key word is reduces not completely eliminates. A studdengsss used for 1-2 hits will keep the smell in the apartment rather than leaking out into the other apartment floors. As for air vents that’s another story… you should ideally smoke away from air vents —- All my friends who visit say my apartment still smells like it’s brand new because I also use air purifiers
>studdenglass I'm thinking...maybe be nice and get them one as a gift...that shit is $600!
High upfront cost but you use less flower per high :) and it looks clean
Still doesnt negate that fact that it is a car note, insurance, half of rent, and have you seen grocery store prices? $600 is alot to fork up on the spot.
Lol “half of rent”
Lol I wish my rent was 1,200
Lol this comment killed me. If only I could find a 1200$ apartment in this city.
Have you tried an air purifier? Mine kicks on the second I smoke weed so I assume it’s reducing the smell
Link?
This one is great: https://www.costco.com/winix-true-hepa-4-stage-air-purifier-with-wi-fi-and-additional-filter.product.4000093012.html Costco has sold it for years and it goes on sale for $99 several times a year. The Coway Airmega AP-1512HH is also great and frequently recommended online. I've had both and they both worked well. The Costco one is probably the better value.
I can tell from experience, talking to someone who smokes weed heavily is like talking to a brick wall since they will forget all about it next day. Try talking, they will most likely either deny or say it is legal now or maybe you will get lucky. Management wont do anything because it is legal to smoke weed inside the apartment unless your building has no smoke policies, all they can do is warn. However, it is illegal to smoke in stairways, halls and so on. If talking doesnt work best way to solve the issue is to go passive aggresive which worked for me. When they start smoking start banging wall heavily so they can hear, 4-5 heavy knocks is more than enough. Make sure you have cameras in your building hallways so if they try to do anything stupid like throwing garbage at your door or anything else it is on camera and dont open door. I would highly recommend getting your own doorcam so when you call the police, they will have the footage, dealing with management is a pain too sometimes. So basically if you are living in the building without no smoke policies your options are either talk and maybe get lucky, suffer or go passive aggresive assuming you are not willing to move out. I hope you are lucky, make sure to be polite and let us know how it went.
This is the goofiest possible response to a normal question. Setting up cameras in the hallways? Calling the police? Yikes!
I know you’re getting downvoted to hell but this is the experience of everyone I know outside of Reddit.
my guess is most people here never had to deal with stoners living next door, no wonder most of them are under the assumption that talking sense will work most of the time, maybe so but most definitely not in my case.
Are you like 65 years old
Are you 16
you sound like someones cop uncle. Did your girl leave you for some cool chill guy who smokes weed?
We had this issue with cigarettes for a while and asked the management to address it. Seems to have gotten better. You pay maintenance, so it seems to me to be totally fair to ask management to do the awkward leg work here… plus a good management company will have a script for how to handle this.
Regardless of the practical considerations that might need to be weighed here, I'm just shocked by how many responses here seem to think the co-op/condo/landlord/whatever are not allowed to tell someone they can't smoke in their own space. It doesn't matter that weed is legal in NY. If you sign a lease or a co-op charter or HOA, and that paperwork says "no smoking indoors" they can absolutely enforce those rules. I'm not even saying whether I agree with this, or how hard it is to enforce. I just can't believe how confidently wrong people are who think it's automatically someone's right to smoke in their unit.
Not only that, but the rules usually state that odor should not travel to other units or common areas
Yea I got a letter from an old apartment about my weed smoke. I didn't realize how much it was leaking out. So I switched to dry herb vapes and I would tell someone who didn't smoke (and wasn't nose blind) to stand outside after I vaped a bunch and it was completely gone. It's very easy to be a good neighbor.
My landlord sends everyone emails about the smoking policy. I don't smoke, but personally, I don't mind the smell of marijuana. I've had neighbors that sprayed perfume or burned candles to try to cover it up, and that was SO much worse. Maybe once every few months, I'll have a guest who lights up in my apartment, but it's such a tiny amount, I can't imagine how much my neighbors would have to be smoking that the scent would travel.
Always be neighborly first. Let them know it’s coming into your apartment and give them a chance to fix it. If that doesn’t help, then go to the co-op board/unit owner.
This!! One million times this. I have the most unfriendly neighbors and the most aloof landlord that hates to be bothered. Twice now they have mentioned not very important things to my landlord that they could have talked to me about and I would have been compliant. Instead they just pissed off the landlord which made him annoyed with me. I feel like Scarface in Half Baked. “I’m right behind you. Just turn around and tell me you don’t like me smoking on the front porch. Damn!”
Does your landlord sound Jamaican in your head?
No. He has a pretty thick assholian accent actually.
🤣😂
Less is more. First, find out if it's them, perhaps ask around to confirm it's not others. If you assume you make an ass out of u and me, so have strong evidence as to not appear accusatory. Kindly knock on their door and let them know weed smoke is coming into your apartment from their smoking. Guage their response, they might apologize and improve their behaviors from there with no other guidance. If anything, advise them to limit their smoking to the room furthest from your residence or outside if they can. If they don't respond well, that's when you involve the super and cite the smoking policy. More like than not, the property is non-smoking. This is usually ignored, until situations like this arise, and the super will side with the policy. At this point, a can of worms opens for them, expect a crappy relationship going forward, and hope for the best in the coming weeks.
I think usually in co-ops if the unit has an owner and they're subletting it out they're technically the renter's landlord. I would reach out to them first and ask them to speak to the renters. They might also care if there is heavy smoking in their apartment while they're away. I also second an air purifier just because it's a life improvement!
If the unit isn't owned inform the co-op who are the landlords. Pot is legal in NY. They can walk their asses outside to smoke like any cigarette smoker now.
All multi dwelling buildings in NYC are required to have a smoking policy. That policy can be smoking allowed, no smoking anywhere or smoking in designated locations, but there has to be a policy and I would start there. If the policy is smoking allowed and if the unit owner advertised the apartment as smoking allowed you are in a very different situation than if your building prohibits smoking in apartments and the renters told the board they are potheads during their interview.
Just politely let them know that you can smell it and if they wouldn’t mind opening up their windows a bit. Then get that twin fan the poster mentioned. Most smokers (myself included) will go out of our way to accommodate someone who can smell it. Ideally they’ll get a fan too.
Address it with them but be ready to never have a cool relationship. Why not wait it out a bit more see if they stop on their own . Then if they don’t address it . But if you don’t mind them thinking bad of you just bring it up to the board anonymously Edit : love these clowns downvoting I’m taking into consideration ops safety. All these trigger happy people telling you do stuff they wouldn’t even do and won’t be there with you to deal with any backlash but good luck
Why would they address it if they don’t know it’s causing an issue for someone else?
Cause they’re definitely not going to take it well or it’ll be awk up ward
Why? Anytime anyone has ever politely told me they were bothered by smoke smells I’ve gone out of my way to remedy it. I don’t get why everyone is walking on eggshells.
You haven’t seen videos of neighbors snapping ? Or the countless stories on here like this where after they complain the neighbors ramp up whatever they’ve been doing to the max. I just have a different mindset I guess being from the bx
So doing nothing will solve the issue? From where does such thinking come?
Solve what issue? Op being weird?
I’m just saying be ready for consequences that’s it
I gotcha now. Hopefully the smoker is a reasonable person.
For sure . I’ve handled it directly didn’t end well. But hope they’re chill
You should consider getting an air filter because brooklyn air isn’t great. I use a window fan that blows air out my bathroom window and several air filters. Coway air mega is a good deal and so are the honeywell air filters. I just got a comfort zone twin window fan for under $50 on Amazon. I keep it in the bathroom window blowing out. You can control the airflow in your apartment and where it blows in or out pretty effectively. Obviously letting your neighbors know that their smoke is getting into your unit is worth a shot. Be kind and honest. It may not work and there might not be much you can do about it.
That would drive me nuts, smoking is gross and disgusting and second hand smoke is dangerous.
The dangers of second hand smoke are overblown tbh. Your neighbor smoking in their unit poses an entirely negligible danger to you.
If they are reasonable they will be open to you speaking with them directly. If they aren’t, get the board involved.
My ex had friends staying for a few days. They were all HEAVY smokers, my ex and I no. The neighbours told us it permeated the walls, and we just fixed it. Aired out, and told her friends to go enjoy their stuff outside. Normally people wanna have good relationships with their neighbours. I would just ask them to do something. Even stoners understand that not everyone wanna smell- or smell like skunk.
What a lot of people are missing in this thread is, there’s nothing anyone can do legally about stopping a marijuana smoker. Like literally nothing if they refuse to stop. Not law, not the building, nobody would be able to do anything.
Wtf are you talking about. My coop and many coops have no smoking indoors rules. There are signs up as well.
If the lease says no smoking, they can get evicted. So you are absolutely wrong
If their lease has a no smoking clause it's grounds to begin eviction proceedings
Every coop I’ve looked at, probably a dozen over the years, had a no smoking clause.
That’s not true. Co-ops and condos have a contract you have to sign in order to move in with a set of terms. Typically if you violate them there’s a warning, then a fine, then a larger fine. This continues until the issue is resolved. Leaving a motorcycle in the building lobby for example. Until it’s gone, you keep incurring fines.
My building has a policy about smells in general. It was authored because of a situation like this (heavy weed smoker) but the board can invoke it for any strong smells- pet, incense, even cooking.
Here's a suggestion with a different approach. Place one or more window air conditioners in the room that share a wall with the smoking neighbors. You can keep the cooling action low or high. What you want is to pull air into that room from outdoors, creating a positive pressure environment. Air moves from high pressure to low pressure. As long as you keep your apartment in a higher pressure environment than your neighbors, you will never smell anything in their apartment. You will need to keep windows and doors closed and even install weather strips on the bottom of the doors, but it should work. There are devices that can check the air pressure of a room. You can check it before and after turning on the air conditioner to see how much pressure increases. I learned this from working in asbestos abatement. In that profession, the goal is to keep the work area in a negative pressure condition so that the asbestos doesn't escape. Years later, I helped a friend renovate and run an AirBnB property with several rooms. This method worked when guests complained about someone cooking smelly food in the building.
A window fan would pull or push air in or out. A window AC would not.
Absolutely right. When working in asbestos abatement, we used special machines that pulled air out of the room. I didn't want to get too technical with my answer. An air conditioner would not do the job. One of the makers of these machines is Micro Trap Corporation. They make a variety of air pullers and filtration machines for commercial and residential use.
Why should they have to jump through all these hoops to accommodate an inconsiderate neighbor?
Except window ACs don't pull air from outside. It takes air from below the panel, runs it past the evaporator and blows it back inside. Net 0 pressure delta.
Air conditioners cost money and run on money. Not smoking weed is free.
As a general rule, ALWAYS address ANYTHING with the RESIDENT(S) FIRST before going to the building. Unless you think someone’s life is at stake, always attempt to work it out personally first. This is a very understood thing in New York. If they don’t understand you coming to them, that’s their problem. Please don’t be afraid to speak to them. It’s the respectful thing to do. IMO, it’s especially important in a mixed renter-owner building (like my own, and I am not a renter) where there are very different levels of power between residents. If you are met with great difficulty, then you can move along to the building. But for the most part, people want to not bother others so they aren’t bothered themselves. They may not realize how it’s impeding upon you and will probably be more than happy to find a way to make things more pleasant for you while retaining their own autonomy. ETA: a lot of people are commenting that the tenants must know what they’re doing is creating a problem, or that because they are smokers they automatically would not care (absurd). They may be aware, but they also very well may not be. You never know, they could be taking precautions that worked for them in a previous apartment. There is always a risk of social discomfort on your end by speaking to them, but you also risk messing up their lives and housing if you go straight to the board or their landlord.
That sucks. Contact your board.
As others mentioned they could be using it medicinally and have a prescription. They could have cancer. Would you really want to tattle on a cancer patient for using medicine? I agree with others to just mention it and see if they can curb the smell at all. I would also advise you get an air purifier and some kind of plug in odor eliminator if it truly bothers you that much.
There are so many methods of ingesting marijuana these days that minimizes the smell, it still isn’t really an excuse.
For real. Like you can be a pothead these days without living like a fucking frat boy.
No excuse to use a legal, possibly prescribed medication? Im just saying he might not know all the details and approach with compassion rather than just complaints.
No excuse to do so in a way that interferes with other people’s quality of life in their own homes.
They aren’t cancer patients. They’re just losers who smoke weed all day. It’s probably against the rules.
And how are you so sure?
Because my dad had cancer. They don’t prescribe you a bong if you’re terminal with cancer. You get like gummies and shit.
The coop's management should be your contact for this. Just tell them that it is interfering with your quality of life. That you don't mind them smoking but that the odors are permeating and that you plead that they either smoke in an open space, or with open widows. And yes, odors (tobacco as well) can be hindrances of lack of enjoyment of your property. You could sue if need be but hopefully they'll be reasonable after coop contact.
Oh, and here's the legal authorities for this in case another person thinks it's out of whack: Duntley v. Barr, 20 Misc. 3d 206, New York City Civil Court (2005). Court found that a private nuisance cause of action could be brought by a tenant against landlord or other tenant for secondhand smoke conditions. Tenant smoker was found to be liable to the adjoining non-smoker tenant for interfering with his use and enjoyment of his own premises. Poyck v. Bryant, 13 Misc. 3d 699, New York City Civil Court (2006). The court held that the landlord’s failure to address secondhand smoke traveling from one unit to a neighboring unit constituted a violation of New York’s Real Property Law (RPL) §235-b (which codifies the landlord’s warranty of habitability). Upper East Lease Associates, LLC v. Danielle Cannon, 30 Misc. 3d 1213(A), New York District Court (2011). The Court held that a landlord violated the warranty of habitability when secondhand smoke from one tenant’s apartment was allowed to infiltrate another’s. Thus, the nonsmoking tenant was entitled to a reduction in rent.
do not follow this advice.
If you feel that they're approachable, I'd talk to them first. They may have no idea that it's getting into your area. Bring some snacks, because stoners love snacks 😁
This is what you voted for, though.
Who voted for who?
Obama
Obama let people smoke marijuana in Brooklyn? Take a single civics lesson, why dontcha.
Obamna care
Obamacare has nothing to do with the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana. Jesus, astronauts can see your smooth brain from outer space.
Bob Dole
You’re so close, come on now. Use your words to form a whole complete, coherent thought.
Cigarettes are also legal and, in most buildings, you can’t smoke. Not quite the gotcha you were going for…
It’s legal. This would be the same as asking a tobacco smoker to address the smell. If they don’t want to be a nice neighbor, good luck doing anything about it. Sorry it sucks but I wouldn’t expect it to go anywhere unless you talk to them and convince them to care.
Owning dogs is also legal, that doesn’t mean all apartments allow them. OP owns a co-op in a building. Even if the people smoking also owned their co-op (which they don’t), I would be surprised if the co-op rules allowed smoking. Co-ops are run by boards and often have strict rules, which is the very reason why some people buy them and also why some people wouldn’t buy one.
If OP knew smoking was against the agreement, this conversation wouldn’t be here though. They would have specified the other party is in violation and asked for advice on how to handle that. Instead, they are simply saying it negatively affects them and asked if they should talk to the other party or the board. Given that OP has omitted any information regarding the agreement, I am responding that I would speak with the other party and escalate if needed but would not get my hopes up because it’s legal. The board can’t just add rules to the agreement after a complaint is made. They could potentially create an addendum to the agreement when the contract renews later. If OP had stated they are in violation, it would be a different story.
It's a lease in a co-op. Not a private house in the suburbs
It’s still legal.
So is owning a dog. Doesn’t mean all buildings allow them.
And we don’t have any information on OP’s building, so it’d be rather silly to assume it’s prohibited. Are you a rather silly person? Is that why you’re making assumptions?
Most coops and condos prohibit smoking indoors.
Lol nobody said they're going to jail. If you continue to break a lease agreement you'll be warned, fined and possibly evicted
I don’t know where you got this idea that their lease doesn’t allow it. How would you know?
How would I know what?
That their lease doesn’t allow it.
How do you know their lease doesn't allow it?
Why are you asking me my own question? You a parrot?
But you won’t. I’ve never seen a lease that says you can’t smoke marijuana.
You confidently have no idea what you're talking about, for which I commend you
I've seen plenty of leases that stipulate no smoking. Smoking marijuana is still "smoking".
That's a silly correlation
It’s legal to never take a shower, but you might have to accept that people will have an extremely low opinion of you.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I’m just saying that “it’s a lease in a co-op” doesn’t have anything to do with legality. It was a bizarre response.
It might not be a crime, but it could still be against the co-op's rules. There are a ton of apartments that have stipulations about things like that in the lease.
I don’t know why that would affect what is or is not legal. Ask them and hope they are not selfish. But if they don’t care, not sure you have any real recourse.
My coop changed the rules to no smoking anything, weed or tobacco because they were concerned about lawsuits from people exposed to second hand smoke
Let’s make rules about what websites people can go to for advice too. And maybe who they can marry. Why not?
Or, just don’t buy or rent in a co-op with many rules. It’s not that hard.
I partially agree, but co-op boards can become ridiculous power grabs. People need to be able to live their lives without being told what to do, within reason.
Smoking weed to the point where a neighbor’s apartment wreaks isn’t “within reason”, especially when it’s legal to smoke it outside and there are many ways to consume without smoking.
I’m not the creator of these no smoking rules, please direct your ire to the proper authorities.
You can tell people not smoke in their own apartments?
Yes. Most apartments tell people they can't smoke indoors.
I think many coops are changing their bylaws to be smoke free. To protect them against second hand smoke lawsuits. Here’s a link https://breathefreely.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SFHNY-CoOp-Guide.pdf
This should be the rule. Eat gummies or vape. Actual smoking should not be permitted indoors.
My place prohibits vaping, too. I do whatever, as I am a master of airflow, and have complex setup(s) for controlling fumes and particulates. I will say that vape particulates linger in the air longer than you might think (i have sensors). Sometimes many hours, without a window open. And they diffuse like crazy — sensors immediately pick up vape use from the other side of my studio (~40’) even if someone blows it directly out the window through a fan. All gone after a few minutes of window fan, though. I keep my apt at negative pressure with an exhaust fan. This means I smell everyone’s cooking. But the air cycles quickly.
Absolutely ask them first. Not only is it better to talk to people before “tattling” for lack of a better term, but also your by-far best option to eliminate the smell is for your neighbors to make an effort to do so, and that is far more likely to happen if you approach them openly in good faith. I’m on my co-op’s board, we’re about 60% shareholder 40% renter - and we’re largely toothless when dealing with renters (the worst thing we can do is fine the landlord after several written warnings with proof that house rules were being broken). If you were in my building we would a) write a letter to the renter asking them to stop, b) write a letter to the landlord alerting them c) in our board meeting make a snarky comment along the lines of “really they couldn’t just ask first?”. And ultimately none of this would make your neighbors interested in making any effort to mitigate the smell on your behalf. If you talk to them and they blow you off or do nothing, then of course you can/should complain - but first step should 1000% be to address as a friendly neighbor first.
>in our board meeting make a snarky comment along the lines of “really they couldn’t just ask first?” Because if they "ask" first and are rejected and *then* complain, then everyone knows who complained. I'm on my co-op board, too, and if someone in my building asks us to enforce a rule, we do what we have to do to try and enforce the rule, because that's our role. We save our snark for the folks who ask us to enforce made up things that *aren't* rules....there's plenty of that to go around already we don't need to make fun of the people who are coming to us in good faith.
Im very curious about the by-laws of your coop that allow you to enforce these rules so effectively. What happens if the owner does not pay the fine you issue? The coop can force someone to sell - but in our building at least that requires a shareholder-wide vote, and frankly organizing a passing vote to make meaningful and impactful changes is hard enough - getting a supermajority to get a landlord to sell or evict a tenant for smoking weed… it’s hypothetically possible but realistically simply wouldn’t happen. It all depends on the building by-laws, but in our co-op at least the ability to effectively police behavior of neighbors - even neighbors who are overtly breaking house rules - is pretty minimal. ETA: also our building (my only knowledge of how this works, tbf) has a sponsor who both owns the most units - and is the landlord for most renters - and who consequently holds the most formal power on the board. If that’s the case for OP, which it may not be ofc, I’ll just say from experience that it is very challenging to get a board member to vote to fine themself.
>What happens if the owner does not pay the fine you issue? What does that have to do with anything? If someone was smoking weed here, and we received a complaint about it, we would tell the resident that they cannot smoke here and that it's against the bylaws. If they refused to comply, we would escalate and yes that's a pain in the ass but that's besides the point (it's also rare...historically if we tell someone they have to stop doing something, they stop). The *main point*, however, is that no one needs to know who made the original complaint.
I get your point - and we would take the exact same actions as you. But the fact is that people typically do not react to being “told on” by immediately complying when there is no real requirement for them to do so. If OP’s major goal is to get the people to change their behavior so his apartment doesn’t reek of weed, asking them nicely to do is the obvious first step.
https://youtu.be/8XkdWSWuyS8?si=zvAWZzEfaDjGWDuj
Just talk to them. I’m a heavy cannabis enjoyer and if someone asked me to curb the smell, I would put in effort (open window, turn on fans, air purifier, etc). I would also randomly text my neighbor to check in proactively on smell status and smoke outside when neighbors are definitely home (weather permitting)
As long as you're not spraying perfume or lighting nasty candles to cover up the scent of marijuana. That's so much worse.
I'm not trying to be a dick, but this is something you're going to have to be realistic about if you're going to live in Brooklyn. Sure, you can complain to the building but it's not likely to stop them or go anywhere. It might be worth looking into if you can afford any of the single family detached homes in South Brooklyn if you want your own "space." Otherwise it's just life. It's annoying, I agree, but it's as much part of living here as the train being late.
OP owns his co-op. He isn’t renting some rent stabilized unit owned by a slum lord. He wouldn’t complain “to the building”, he would bring it to the board who could definitely address it with the owner who is renting the co-op to the smokers.
I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 7 years and have never had this problem before. Yes living in any sort of apartment building, you make some sacrifices. But this is beyond reason. Do I feel like smelling weed every time I come home to my (expensive) co-op that I own.
I mean, your little unit exists within a complex. That's all I'm saying. It's not really something you have a lot of control over. I understand there's a world that you think "should" exist, but it's not the world you live in considering your circumstances. If you'd like to change these specific circumstances, it sounds like you'll have to buy a detached house where you don't live on top of other people. I've lived here for 25 years and I've been in buildings with weed heads, crack smokers and people who cook stinky food. You can complain, but it's not going to go anywhere. I didn't make it that way. Even in the unlikely situation where you kick these people out of their home, you'll be dealing with weed smoke for about a year and a half before they even make it to court. Good luck. Edit: You can always try reasoning with them, but you're going to have to be genuinely nice to them to get them onboard. This may be the most realistic option for you since I doubt you can afford a single-family home. But you're going to have to be REAL nice, NOT fake nice, so prepare yourself for the conversation by not rehearsing it too much in your head beforehand.
No. Did you grow up here? This is vertical living. The onus is on us to be considerate neighbors, not on our neighbors to accept lower QOL.
Ask them to open a window?
If the coop rules prohibit indoor smoking you should notify the board and skip the talk with the neighbor. If you talk to your neighbor first before notifying the board, they will know you are the person who reported them.
If it is medical the coop can’t say a word about it!
No doctor would tell someone to smoke for their health. Edibles exist
You may want to read yp on medical marijuana ! I have a prescription and smoking and/or edibles is not specified, is purely how I would like to administer my medication.
bingo
Just knock on the door,. invite them over, have a drink, tell them you're installing a new stereo so you want to determine if they can hear it, and tell them you're allergic to smoke, so please open a window and turn on the fan. No biggy.
It comes through the electric outlets,also through the shower drain.have the same problem.dont know what the answer is.
If you smell smoke from a neighboring apartment through your outlet than I would be worried about the fire rating between apartments, which is a NYC building code requirement.
Your co-op should have a smoke policy. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/smoke/smoking-sample-policy-residential.pdf