Aug.
31st
SMOKING: Secondhand smoke should be declared a nuisance
Re: “Smoke-free in apartments” (TNT, 8-29).
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department should definitely endorse amending the state Landlord-Tenant Act to include secondhand smoke as a “nuisance” similar to loud music or barking dogs. Many people are surprised it wasn’t included as a nuisance five years ago.
Declaring secondhand smoke a “nuisance” would simply give a tenant the upper hand in removing unwanted secondhand smoke from their property, particularly in the case when a landlord does not include a smoking policy in their lease (now law in Oregon).
Pierce County landlords should know they can already include a very strict no-smoking …