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Neighbor is Poisoning us PDF Print E-mail
Rants and Raves

 
I love my apartment and don't want to be forced to move because of my new neighbor. She is a chain smoker and I can smell the cigarette smoke every time she lights up. It wasn't too bad before but she must've lost her job or gotten fired because she's home all the time now. Her smoking is dangerous not only to her but to me and my family's health as well.

 

I'm home most of the time taking care of my two young children and we are all being exposed to second hand smoke on a daily basis. It's winter time and I can't just open the windows to air the place out. My husband has brought up the issue to our landlord and was told nothing can be done about it. The landlord won't ask her to stop smoking because she can do whatever she wants in her place and he did not rent it as a smoke free apartment.

neighbor-smokingI know I don't have the right to tell someone to stop smoking in their own home so I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince her to stop doing something she's obviously addicted to. However, I need to figure out how to handle this situation because second hand smoke is just as dangerous and just as deadly to me and my family.

I would prefer not to have to be forced out of my place on the count of her; as we've been living here a lot longer than she has. I wrote this to get people's opinion and hoping someone has an idea that I haven't thought of yet. Should I approach her and plead with her to consider the fact that she is exposing us to something that can kill us?
 

Comments  

 
0 #19 RE: Neighbor is Poisoning us — Mrs. B 2011-08-22 00:48
Instead of bothering your neighbors and landlord, why don't you try quitting cocaine?

Seriously. Snorting cocaine causes a 400% increased sensitivity to the smell of cigarette smoke in coke addicted non-smokers. No one really that sensitive to smoke can drive or live in a big city because of the smog, except a non-smoking cokehead --- or a liar.

Just for the record, I have asthma. So as far as I'm concerned you can take your sob story and your drug dealing pedophile boyfriend, and go play on the freeway. Both I and your children might live longer.
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0 #18 RE: Neighbor is Poisoning us — myra 2011-08-20 18:45
This is bizarre. Grew up out here and we have a 500 lb woman that smokes every 5 minutes. How do we stop this nasty, old, outspoken person and her daughters and son and their meanness? They continue To smoke and blow smoke and laugh and now have keyed and snotted our cars. Help...landlady won't help. Village at Lakeside. Any help?
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+1 #17 Gateway Drug — Bobi1229 2011-08-05 18:20
The #1 drug that makes using other drugs "Feel" safe to try, to experiment with? Cigarettes
Look it up
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+1 #16 Smokers, killing me — Bobi1229 2011-08-05 18:19
-When I get home, my condo smells like a family of smokers lives with me; not so, just me & I don't smoke.

-The condo I bought, I paid cash, all the money I had, because that was the only way I could afford to live after my husband died, & income went down 50%.

-Both my neighbors smoked

-I would close the windows in the front during the day time, & close the bedroom windows during the evening hours; this helped sometimes to keep the smoke from entering my unit, while blasting 2 huge fans at the windows

-Now, renters are within 5 feet of my windows, all 7 smokers

-My living room windows are permanently taped shut, as is the bathroom vent. I applied weather stripping to my front door, and added extra thick lining to the windows in the bedrooms.

-Cigar & cigarette smoke continues to enter my unit, I am told through the electrical sockets; which I need to fill with expanding foam, to stop the smoke from coming inside.

-It's hot here in the daytime with all the windows shut & fans blowing; AC is not an option as other neighbors have shown me that the AC brings the smoke right inside.

-At night I close the glass door, take a fan into my bedroom & at 11 PM or after, I get up & open the glass door, IF the smokers are sleeping; if they are still in the livingroom area, too bad for me, no air, no windows can be opened.

-The bedroom windows can't be opened because they smoke in there, comes right inside my unit

-Yup, I can't move, I can't afford it, movers, packing, cleaners, all costs money. I can't sell for another year, I have to stay for a specific time for the tax credits and there are 20-30 units here that are on the market right now, I doubt I would get enough from the sale to start over.

-The smokers can do whatever they want within their units, including smoking 2 feet from my windows outside on their lanai, connected to my lanai.

-Okay, smokers have rights, what about non-smokers rights? I would like to enjoy my home & not have to leave as I do now, because I can't breathe inside my home. It would be wonderful to come home & not have to air out the whole place because it's filled w/2nd hand smoke. And run giant fans 24/7 & hope the fans make a difference today.

-I miss my husband everyday; he died in 5 days from massive blood clots throughout his body; amputations couldn't help him. I watched the man I loved & spent my life with, 35 years, die before my eyes.

-And till the end of his life, the tobacco smell reaked from his pours, being the life long smoker that he was; always outside, away from the house. His autopsy indicated he died due to acute poisoning due to cigarette intoxication, complicated by strokes and MI.

-Luck to all, and to myself that I don't die like my poor husband.
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0 #15 RE: Neighbor is Poisoning us — anonymous 2011-07-26 18:32
If it's bothering other neighbors get a petition going and get everyone to sign to make the apartment smoke free. A lot of apartments are nowadays so why not try and make yours?!
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-1 #14 Do you share an AC/Heater — Thialee 2011-07-23 12:04
I don't understand how the smoke and smell gets into your place. They should be on totally different units. They might be very old apartments and share vents, if that is the case, one person suggested you get an air purifier, I agree. That is the answer. I had a neighbor that used to cook the most disgusting smelling things all day, everyday, I finally moved.
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-2 #13 YOU ARE BEAT — Chance1 2011-07-07 15:39
You chose to live in an apartment, which in fact has extremely close neighbors. You know people smoke and know you can smell it if you are close. Does not matter who lived there longer. It is her house just like it is yours, and there isn't a thing you can do. Except for move and get a house where you won't be exposed to things like that.
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+2 #12 Really, now. — Myanmar 2011-05-04 20:10
If you can smell it, it's getting in your lungs. Think of anything that gives off an odor - flowers, air freshener, POOP - and note that you can smell it because particles are entering via your nostril. Yes, that's right - we're breathing all of that in when we use a nasty porta-potty.

While the effects of your breathing in the smoke in your own apartment are likely less than if you were in HER apartment, to say that there could be no effects would be a lie or an incredible piece of misinformation.
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-1 #11 right — Guest 2011-04-13 12:37
Your rights end where someone's rights start. So do go around saying it's your right to smoke. It's not my right to get cancer, smell your nasty smoke, or whatever the cause may be.
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0 #10 RE: Neighbor is Poisoning us — smoker 2011-03-22 14:32
I think you respect our right to smoke as we respect yours not to smoke. You whiners just really piss me off with your god complex. According to you, your word is law and no one should question it. It's your way or no way. Get a life and get over it!
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