Protect Your Investment
When an owner purchase a rental property, it represents an investment like any other – one that should be protected. Whether by reducing turnover costs or preventing long-term damage, establishing smoke-free policies goes a long way toward helping owners protect their investments.
Reduce damage
A smoke-free policy is one of the easiest ways to reduce damage to your units and to keep your costs down. If you have tenants who smoke, you know it can mean serious damage to your property including yellow walls, burn marks on the counters, trashed carpets and unpleasant odors. A smoke-free policy will help you spend less time and money on cleaning, repairs and painting. It will keep your units in better condition, making them more attractive to the vast majority of renters out there who prefer smoke-free housing.
A report from The Sanford Housing Authority in Maine demonstrates the costs associated with turning over a single smoking unit, versus a non-smoking unit. Review the Sanford Housing Authority Chart to learn how a landlord can easily spend up to an extra $1,000 on turning over a smoking unit.
Improved resale opportunities
Recent articles suggest that smoke-free apartment buildings may also have increased re-sale value, should you ever decide to sell your building. Agents who have assisted people selling or shopping for everything from starter-homes to mansions agree: As the number of public places in which a person can smoke has shrunk, so has the number of home buyers who are even willing to consider a house with smoking in its past. (New York Times, "Real Estate & Secondhand Smoke: On Tobacco Road, It's a Tougher Sell," February 8, 2004).
Prevent fires
A smoke-free policy will also protect your property from fires. Cigarettes and smoking material are responsible for more deaths than any other fire source, both nationally and within Washington state. When residential smoking fires occur, they cause more injuries, more deaths, and more expensive property damage than other types of residential fires. A smoke-free policy will reduce the risk of fires at your rental properties, and you may even be able to get an insurance discount. Ask your broker.
Reduced insurance premiums
Some insurance agencies give a credit or premium reduction to landlords and/or renters on their property/liability insurance if they do not allow smoking in their apartment building (landlord) or their apartment (renter).
Check with your insurance agent to see if a premium reduction might be available to you. Here are a few things to consider:
- Check with your insurer to determine whether your current policy includes a penalty (explicit or hidden) if you don't presently have a smoke-free policy in your tenants' leases.
- Seek a "credit" for having a smoke-free apartment policy, since some insurers automatically add a "debit" to the premium unless they are shown that leases for the apartment building require all apartments to be smoke-free.
- Make an insurance premium reduction a priority for discussion and negotiation with your insurer. In recent years, many insurers have dropped a number of "premium perks" due to unrelated losses in the insurance business.
Download the Benefits of Going Smoke-free.
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Last Updated: 06/05/08
This Web site contains information on the revised Clean Indoor Air Act (RCW 70.160). It is not legal advice. This information cannot be considered as a substitute for legal advice from and representation by a qualified attorney.
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