Advice For Landlords
Is your landlord anti-vaping? Dr Marewa Glover and the National Fire Chiefs Council say landlords shouldn’t be concerned.
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by Dave Cross
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Property owners looking to rent rooms or entire homes have been making use of their forums to find out whether they should ban vaping in new contracts. The Independent Network of Estate Agents (INEA) write: “many tenants believe e-cigarettes are not included in a smoking ban,” and, “may even answer ‘no’ when asked if they smoke.”
Although INEA explain that vaping isn’t smoking, it does go on to suggest, “Perhaps it's time to create a ‘no-vaping’ clause,” despite such a thing being almost totally unenforceable.
At Landlord University, one property owner asked others: “I don’t allow smoking in my property, but my prospective tenant smokes an e-cigarette - vaping I think they called it? I’m not sure whether I should I allow it or not?”
The reply: “Although vaping produces a cloud of vapour once dispersed this leaves no trace, unlike smoking. It is likely to be very tricky to detect if they are doing so in your property unless they admit to it in the first place.” The site suggests this could be different for multiple occupancy accommodation, and a ban on vaping in shared areas might be appropriate.
Despite this reasoned advice, Bisnow’s Multifamily newsletter reported that 64% of landlords were in favour of banning vaping.
Dr. Marewa Glover addresses this issue: “The stench of cigarette smoke lingering round a property could be replaced by the smell of freshly baked strawberry shortcake as an increasing number of smokers switch to vaping.”
“Yet while some landlords are allowing vaping inside in the hope that their tenants who smoke will feel supported to switch, others are extending their ban on smoking to vaping also,” she continues. “It’s not clear why landlords would ban vaping. Unlike cigarette smoking, there is no health risk to bystanders from vaping.”
Last month, The London Fire Brigade (LFB) offered its opinion, advising that vaping is far safer than smoking, according to their records: “There is a common misconception that vapes are a fire risk but the reality is they have caused a very small number of fires. Smoking on the other hand is a killer.”
The National Fire Chiefs Council now joins the LFB in supporting vaping: “Unlike cigarettes, there is no side-stream vapour emitted by an e-cigarette into the atmosphere, just the exhaled aerosol. To date, there have been no identified health risks to bystanders from passive vaping.”
“Vapers should never share the same outdoor space with smokers as this puts them at risk of relapsing to smoking” - National Fire Chiefs Council
Going further, and related to our other story yesterdayday, the Council also suggests a more proactive approach should be adopted by NHS Trusts as well as landlords: “Considering the range of e-cigarettes available, some allow for smaller volumes of exhaled vapour and this can be managed in a courteous way for patients, staff and visitors. If the trust cannot negotiate indoor vaping in a manageable way, then a convenient outdoor space would be the next best solution. There is no need for people to leave trust premises to vape as there is for smoking.”
And if landlords are experiencing an issue with vaping triggering a fire alarm, the National Fire Chiefs Council suggest simply changing “the detector head type from ionisation to optical, or to a bi-element detector head.”
Have you experienced any issues with renting property as a vaper? Does your landlord have an issue with vaping?
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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