Sales Market

Study says smoke-free rentals are cheaper

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By Teri Karush Rogers  |
September 7, 2011 - 8:05AM
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A study published recently by the American Journal of Public Health finds that landlords save money when they prohibit smoking everywhere in the building, even inside private apartments.

The California landlords surveyed in the study saved an average of $5,000 a year per smoke-free building. (With the cost of everything higher here, we can only imagine that the savings is far greater in NYC.)

Smoking-related costs included cleaning, repairs and maintenance of recently vacated units; painting and decorating; trash collection and fire damage; property and fire insurance; and legal, administrative and other operating costs.

In California, about one-third of apartments are in smoke-free buildings, according to the study.  

Not so in NYC.

We don't have stats, but a quick Google search for non-smoking rental buildings in NYC surfaced just a handful of prospects, including downtown's Tribeca Green and The Sierra in Chelsea (both owned by top-notch landlord the Related Company) and the upscale 1510 Lex in Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side.

A recent StreetEasy search of available listings found that only 6 apartments out of 8,990 listings were advertised as non-smoking or smoke-free.  (The non-smoking total went up by 10, to 16, when we examined the individual StreetEasy pages for two of the non-smoking buildings listed above--the Tribeca Green and The Sierra. Somewhat oddly, neither the apartments nor the building are being advertised as smoke free on StreetEasy.)

NYC landlords, we'd love to hear from you: Why aren't more of your buildings kicking the habit?

 

Related posts:

Key ingredients of condo smoking ban: Family sized apartments and resale value

Dealing with a chainsmoking neighbor, when an $1,100 air purifier isn't enough

Smoking bans advance in co-ops and condos

Tipping point for smoke bans in co-ops, condos?

The perfect gift for the pot-smoker next door

Renters score secondhand smoke victory

New, non-smoking Carnegie Hill rental offers 2 months 


 

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral

Teri Karush Rogers

Founder & Publisher

Founder and publisher Teri Karush Rogers launched Brick Underground in 2009. As a freelance journalist, she had previously covered New York City real estate for The New York Times. Teri has been featured as an expert on New York City residential real estate by The New York Times, New York Daily News, amNew York, NBC Nightly News, The Real Deal, Business Insider, the Huffington Post, and NY1 News, among others. Teri earned a BA in journalism and a law degree from New York University.

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.

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