CHICAGO NON-SMOKING APARTMENT COMPLEXES - A Growing Trend, or Simply A Niche?
BUILDINGS GO GREEN - SAY "NO SMOKING FOR ALL" A LOGICAL DECISION!
Go back about thirty years or so, and you would be hard pressed to find a No Smoking Restaurant here in Chicago! Even as No Smoking Sections, then No Smoking Office Buildings, began to grow in number steadily over the last 25 years, most thought that ones own apartment would be an untouchable bastion of the choice for smokes, or no smokes.
That's not always true anymore, as a growing number of Chicago Rental Apartment Buildings are not only going green - with water-saving fixtures, more energy-efficient appliances, and improved air quality - but they are also banning smoking. The ban prohibits smoking not only in the common areas, outdoor spaces, and hallways, but also in individual apartments as well. The story was reported by Sharon Stangenes in the October 4th Edition of The Chicago Tribune.
If you sneak a drag on the sly? Fines get increasingly heavy, and can even lead to eviction, in one 24-story apartment building, managed by AMLI, at 900 S. Clark Street in the South Loop Neighborhood of Chicago.
In another new rental building, The Morgan, at 1209 W. Arthur Avenue, near Loyola University, in the Rogers Park Neighborhood of Chicago, tenants moving out can have $500 deducted from their security deposits if the landlord finds evidence of smoking odor, or cigarette burns or paint stains.
A rental building's No Smoking Policy can be quite a draw, among tenants who are tired of wafting cigarette smoke from their neighbor's apartments. Before these new, non-smoking buildings, the inventory of residences banning smoking was limited to smaller apartment buildings owned privately, or individually-owned condo units for rent. New, larger buildings banning smoking are quite a departure from the past, and not everyone agrees they indicate a trend.
Some apartment managers contend personal liberty may become too restricted by a smoking ban (although banning those who smoke is not viewed as a discriminatory practice - smokers are not considered a Protected Class with regards to Fair Housing Laws prohibiting discrimination in the rental and sale market. Our Chicago Real Estate Team routinely bans smokers from the apartment units we manage).
For other building owners and property managers, the decision to continue to allow residents to light up in their apartments is strictly an economic one.
Here in Chicago, in most neighborhoods, the supply of available apartments far exceeds demand, and many landlords fear restricting smoking could hurt their chances for renting out an apartment. One Chicago Rental Service, The Apartment People, headquartered on North Broadway near Belmont Avenue in Chicago, estimates only 10-15% of the apartments it rents out for its landlord client prohibit or restrict smoking.
It is estimated that only 20% of all adult residents of Illinois smoke - a big drop from the over 40% of 30 years ago. Many seeking smoke-free living see the policy as as amenity - one attracting them to one building over another. It also prevents one of the biggest causes of tenant-to-tenant disputes - arguments of other residents lighting up, with the smoke traveling through door cracks and vents from one apartment to another.
Further, renovating an apartment in which a heavy smoker lived can cost hundreds of dollars to eliminate the old smoking odor. Carpet needs to be cleaned and deodorized, and walls usually thoroughly primed and painted to get rid of the smell. Neighbors next door might not renew their leases if the ambient smoke odor is too strong, potentially adding to the building's vacancy percentage.
But, still, resistance is heavy from landlords concerned about alienating current smoking tenants, or scaring away new ones.
No Smoking Buildings here in Chicago - an inevitable trend. Likely, yes - but it might take a while!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
