Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
Enforcement is impossible? You can see people when they're on their balcony. If a neighbour wanted to complain they'd just need to snap a quick photo or video of the person doing it.
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Okay. So now the condo board sends the unit owner (a landlord) a warning. Now what happens? Perhaps it even escalates into the landlord getting a $50 fine next time. Maybe the landlord sends the tenant a note and passes on the fine, but maybe they don't. As per Ontario's Standard Lease, "... the tenant agrees to comply with the condominium declaration, by-laws and rules,
as provided by the landlord". Did the landlord actually bother to provide a copy of the rules? If not, and they rarely do, then landlord eats the fine themselves.
Also recall that the condo corp cannot ban indoor smoking. If you're an unlucky neighbour, the tenant now smokes indoors with their window and doors closed (don't want smoke going to the balcony where neighbour complained) and the smell now spreads to the hallways and adjacent units, and persists in the air.
So now you might involve Toronto Public Health about second hand smoke issues. They also cannot ban smoking indoors but the can ask the smoker to turn on a ventilation fan or open their balcony door so it vents outside. So... now you've got smoke smells in the balcony area again without the person smoking there, and likely still a smaller amount spreading to the hallways.
That said, it's rarely an immediate neighbour that has the problem. It's the person 1 or 20 floors below who has burn marks on their outdoor furniture and is cleaning up cigarette butts on a regular basis.
Going wholly smoke free (including within the private units) is an option if you can get 80% of owners to agree to the by-law change. That's 80% of all owners, not just 80% of those who vote. Getting a 50% quorum at most meetings is a struggle. So in reality, only developers can setup a wholly smoke-free building as by-law changes are very rare.