Longrider

Via Anna Raccoon, a misleading story in the Tellytuybbygraph about smokers and renting private property.

More than 90 per cent of smokers are barred from renting a property, new figures have suggested.

Someone really should speak to their subbies about misleading article headers, because that isn’t what is being said – although what is is probably bad enough anyway.

What is being said is that private landlords are being picky when it comes to tenants and will not allow smoking in their property. Which as property owners is within their rights, of course.

It found a strong shift in attitude against smoking tenants among landlords following the smoking ban introduced in July 2007.

Just 7 per cent of landlords allow smoking in their property while 38 per cent said they will evict lodgers who smoke indoors, according to the survey by easyroommate.co.uk.

There are a couple of points that spring to mind here. The first is, as Anna points out; the de-normalising of smokers is continuing apace. Such is the pervasiveness of the anti-smoking propaganda that people have allowed it to seep into their very pores and it has become a part of the eco-system such that people don’t even question it – or themselves.

An anecdote here. When my parents bought a property in Bristol back in the seventies, my room had been used by the previous owner’s son. The man was a chain smoker and the evidence was there to see in the yellow stained walls, ceiling and paint-work, so this guy was serious about his habit. I’ve never seen anything quite this bad in smokers’ homes before or since. Remember, I live with a smoker – although Mrs L’s rollies are so innocuous, I’m barely aware that she is puffing away most of the time.

The solution to the stained room was cleaning and repainting. Problem solved. Of course, landlords could do this. They could write the costs of doing it, should it prove necessary, into their rental contract.

Another anecdote on a similar theme. When we were planning to let our home prior to moving to France, we were asked if we would allow pets. Now, pet owners will tell smokers a thing or two when it comes to being disbarred from renting. There have always been plenty of landlords who have a “no pets” rule. Some even have a “no children” rule, I am led to understand. We said that as we had pets, we had no problems with allowing tenants to have them. The normal arrangements regarding any damage would apply, so, no problem. It is, after all, someone’s home we are talking about here, regardless of who actually owns the bricks and mortar. I don’t take kindly to people telling me how to live my life, so I sure as hell won’t do it to other people. Providing the property is handed back as it was let, there is no problem as far as I am concerned.

Which brings me to my second point. The agent was not only pleased with this, she told us that we had opened ourselves up to a whole extra market, making letting our property that much easier. So, any landlord that takes a similarly relaxed view towards smoking is doubtless doing likewise. We were never asked about smoking, but our response would have been the same. Sure, and if it causes damage, you pay for it. Can’t say fairer than that.

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Update: Leg Iron mentions this and refers to comments about smell – as I have done briefly in the comments here. This reminds me of my grandparents. As a child I recall the faint odour that was always present in their house; a vague hangover from cooking mixed with tobacco smoke. It was just there on the edge of the senses, almost out of reach. It’s a smell that when I catch these days, transports me back some forty odd years to those childhood memories. Yes, peoples’ houses have odours. My sister’s house has a distinct parfum de chien about it. Might be something to do with the dog…

However, none of this is a problem. If you move into a house that has a faint tobacco smell, open the windows and it will dissipate quickly enough.