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  • #8546
    Jimmy-T
    Keymaster

      We know smoking is a filthy habit – as many tobacco addicts will concede – and most of us are enjoying having pubs and restaurants that exile smokers to the streets.

      The last bastion of the nicotine junkies seems to be our homes and in a free-standing house you can smoke your lungs out – although your kids won’t thank you when they grow up asthmatic and addicted themselves.

      But here in Strataland we are at the mercy of the elements if our neighbours smoke. Balcony puffers are an increasing source of angst, often exiled to the near-outdoors by partners who don’t want their homes stunk up by cigarettes.

      And then there are the well-intentioned indoor smokers whose fumes escape through poorly designed or constructed walls, doors and windows. Fag-end flickers are a whole other breed of anti-social scumbags, treating the homes below them like giant ashtrays.

      But all this could soon be stubbed out if an online petition to the NSW government has the desired effect.

      Action on Smoking and Health Australia are pressing the state government to have cigarette smoke declared a ‘nuisance and hazard’ under the current review of strata laws.

      “Residents [want] clearer supported avenues to seek protection from toxic smoke – particularly to protect their children, which is often their chief concern,” says an ASH press release.

      They may already have considerable support in Government with the Fair Trading discussion paper issued for the strata law review clearly stating the dangers of smoking in strata.

      “Given the close proximity of homes in many strata and community schemes, the issue of smoking is highly contentious,” says the paper. “Pregnant women, young children and those with chronic respiratory illnesses are particularly vulnerable to second hand smoke.”

      The document offers several options from a new standard by-law to having smoking policies spelled out in sales and rental contracts.  Either way, smoke-free apartment blocks are on the rise – and you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.

      Submissions to the strata law review close on November 15 and you can find a link to it HERE. So far there have been more than 850 submissions to the Fair Trading review, plus a further 350 online comments to the Fairfax online article on the review.

      A link to the ASH petition can be found HERE while their submission to the review is HERE.

      The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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