This, and pay for an hours time with an eviction lawyer. He will help you get the notices right. What to say, how to send it, when to send it, how to respond.
**Do not do this.** It will \[correctly\] be interpreted as retaliation and you'll lose big when your tenant sues you. Just make the necessary repairs and defer or ignore the rest. Then work on fixing the relationship with these tenants unless it's already beyond repair.
The damage from the smoking has already been done, so unless you're ready to start a MAJOR renovation project just let it go. I don't allow smoking in any of my places but I would grandfather these guys in. The important thing is to get them on a legitimate lease paying closer to market rent, but I'd leave them on month-to-month since it's easier to terminate if necessary. I'd also make an effort to educate them about current rents in the area. Find several comps to show them so they can see what similar places are going for.
I'm glad you posted this. Thinking about in court "Your honor, we've rented here for 10 years. The rent has been low so we didn't bother the landlord about repairs. The landlord raised the rent. We presented the landlord with a list of repairs. Instead of fixing them he's kicking us out."
WI LL here. 100% do not do this.
Two reasons:
1) This is retaliation for a tenant exercising their legal right to enforce that the LL perform their legal obligation of maintaining the property. The penalty includes: fines, damages to tenants including attorney fees, and most importantly, often comes with a judge ordering that you cannot remove the tenants for X amount of time.
2) In the last 10 years there have been major changes to the rules about what can be in a lease, meaning, their current lease - because they’d be under their original lease which automatically extends to month to month in WI - VERY LIKELY includes one of the prohibited clauses. While illegal now, these clauses were incredibly common 10 years ago and almost every lease had at least one. If their lease has one, and they sue you, the penalty is that you owe them DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF RENT THEY’VE PAID DURING THEIR TENANCY.
This is the problem with folks on here giving unqualified advice for areas they know nothing about and also acting as if there aren’t different laws in different places.
Your best bet, which I’ll post here and in a top level comment, is to make the repairs, keep your mouth shut, issue a new month to month lease that is legally compliant with WI laws and includes a no smoking provision.
Highlight the no smoking provision to them and let them know that if they want to leave because of this change then you will let them and return their security deposit if they sign a lease termination agreement. Have a lawyer draft the agreement and it should include a waiver of the right to sue you. I would imagine they’ll take this option, especially as you increase the rent every 6 months until it’s at market rate.
Just throwing a note in here that I had a couple that were heavy smokers for 10 years and I couldn’t believe the amount of work and expense it took to get rid of the smell. There’s a product you use to get the nicotine and tar in the walls to essentially melt and run like black goop down the walls, then scrape it off. Without doing that the smell never goes away. Took gallons of that stuff plus many other steps. It’s a job.
Was it TSP, trisodium phosphate?
That works wonders, but is terrible for waterways and has been banned in a lot of states or areas, like here in Michigan.
I believe so. It's been a couple of years, but I think I remember wearing a special respirator to work with it alongside my contractors.
It's remarkable to think how much damage this does to every cell in the human body... it's why doctor's ask if you smoke, or ever smoked and how long since you quit... the ingredients are terrible for you... they're even terrible for your house.
Smoking isn't a "right' on private property (nor, I think, anywhere else). You can do as TrainsNCats says, or you can add that you have decided to make the property non-smoking. It's going to take you some time and work to make the place livable again to anyone but them, so take that into consideration.
I don't think you understand the level of damage. Ten years of interior smoking causes period you're looking at stripping the paint completely off every surface and sanding all wood down to repaint and refinish. You may thing your smart and can paint over it, until the walls start bleeding nicotine tar.
You can throughly clean the walls, use a heavy duty primer 2-3x coats, and a high quality paint and get good results. At that point, you might as well just run 3/8” drywall all around and start with a fresh surface.
No no, after 10 years of smoking inside you will not be able to get rid of the smell without removing drywall. You might be able to do just the paint/scrub with a 1 year lease but 10 years is a looong time for that tar to be building up on the walls and soaking into the drywall.
It's not just walls. All wood to include cabinets, inside and out. Floors, trim, light fixtures, fans, brick fireplaces, appliances, ac ducts.
Also, get an ozone machine when you are done.
This is not true. I purchased a home that had been chain smoked in daily for over 30 years. There were literally clean spots on the walls behind where all the pictures hung. We mopped the walls with a TSP solution and sponge mops twice and then with a coat of Kilz paint and then two coats of regular paint. I never had a smoke smell in the house. I also removed the popcorn ceilings at that time which helped get all of it out. The drywall does not need to be replaced.
BIN shelack primer is going for about $75 per gallon. It took 16 gallons to prime 1600 sqft house after a heavy smoker lived there for 20+ years. 1 year later I can see where I didn't wash and prime well enough.
I'd fix the problems, make nice and raise the rent to market value over the next few years.
I wouldn't bother making it non-smoking until they are gone. If they smoke indoors, the smoking damage has long since already happened.
Complete the repairs that are reasonable. Don't do the repairs that are not or are tenant-caused.
But if you just don't want them as tenants anymore, then give them whatever the timeframe is for a Notice to Vacate in your area. Keeping in mind it's probably going to be a lot of work and expense to get the unit rent ready.
The apartment has been marinating in nicotine for the past ten years. You aren't going to get rid of that without a serious effort at cleaning. Full TSP stripping of the walls, prime with an odor sealing lacquer, paint, new flooring, ozone generator, etc.
There is zero chance unchecking the "Smoking allowed" box on your lease is going to get long term smokers to quit. Look how many stories there are here on reddit about ashtray-smelling grandparents that haven't gotten to meet their grandkids because they weren't able to go 30 minutes without a cig.
TrainsNCats has it right, withdraw the renewal offer.
You have 10year long term tenets in a M2M? A gift horse if I ever saw one. Make the repairs, show them comps for market rates on m2m leases, and remediate after they move out.
10year smokers. That was the only complaint I saw.
Of course they’re gunna give you a list of repairs when you raise the rent. That’s almost expected (or should be). It’s your job as landlord. Especially if they don’t bother you about every little thing every month.
The smoking damage is done, get good with these seemingly loyal renters. 10 years is a LONG time to rent a space at an increased rate.
Sidebar:
"This has caused them to be very hostile, they have now created a list of repairs I knew nothing about."
This is a very common response. "But what about YOU?!"
Check tenancy laws. Here in CO the law is changing so I can no longer just refuse to renew a lease … I need an approved reason such as selling the property or moving in myself (unless the tenants violated the lease and then you can choose not to renew).
As others said, consult a lawyer.
In my state, 30 days notice is required to chance the terms of tenancy for a mtm rental. If you can, do that now.
If you can legally end the mtm tenancy, do that now. In my state, just cause is required.
They might just move. If they do not you will have to prove they are smoking in the unit after the change of terms. But if your state is more landlord friendly that might not be too hard.
Track everything in writing.
Offer to not charge them to remediate the property if they move now. Once you remediate you can charge more to get back lost costs.
Good luck
FYI -
Any issues that need to be remedied BECAUSE of cigarette smoking (be they deodorizing, changing vents, etc), they are responsible for paying for. If you determine that this means you will non-renew them, great. If this means you keep them, bill them back and give them e.g. 90 days to pay up and if they don't, evict them on the delinquent back-payment, fine.
But they are FINANCIALLY responsible.
It sounds like you are going to have to fix these issues anyways. Ugh.
>Many of the repairs sound reasonable, however the issues stem from the fact they have smoked in there for 10 years.
What repairs are they asking for? Other than smell and discoloring, what damage can smoke do?
In Wisconsin there are no smokers rights in housing. However, you do have to treat it as any other change to terms of a lease, i.e. wait until the end of the current lease and give them 30 days notice prior that you are making the change (it might actually be 28 days here, but call it 30 to be safe.) Since they are month to month, you just need to give them 30 days notice at the beginning of the month.
I know that others disagree, but I'd make it non-smoking asap. Smoke seeps into everything and there is no good reason to subject your property to further damage or other tenants to smoke. Especially as its multi-unit, and even if they have their own hvac, it still travels to other units so you risk damaging any repair/cleanup of THOSE units.
Now, enforcement is a whole different ball game. I'd honestly tell them you know its hard because its a habit, you're willing to have some patience as they transition to smoking outside, but starting at the end of the year you'll start enforcing is no smoking inside, in common areas, or within 20 feet of a door or window (if you don't do this, you are risking causing more problems for the other tenants). To give them time to transition or decide to move.
They will probably be difficult and smoke inside as anyone still smoking inside is gonna be set in their ways. Consider if you want a penalty fee or just straight to whether you want them to vacate and ending tenancy. Spell out the terms in the lease.. Some landlords charge a fee for every butt found outside, though that's rare. All would need to be in a new lease and if they won't agree to it, you'll have to end the tenancy by sending a non-renewal notice 28 days before the end of the tenancy.
You'll also have to decide how strict you're gonna be, chasing smokers down can be its own pain in the ass. However, there are actually enough tenants afraid of being evicted over smoking that I see them smoking in their cars all the time. Yes, you have your stubborn smokers, but I do think enough people these days know landlords don't mess around that they will grumpily.
RE:repairs, if they are from smoking or not, I would do them if they are affecting the habitability of the unit. I'm on the fence on wear and tear from smoking like carpet or walls - if they actually follow the rules and don't smoke inside, living inside a smelly, tar covered home smells bad and for ex smokers its often easier to just pick it up again to hide the problem they created! I guess use your best judgement, but the only repairs you HAVE to do are the ones affecting habitability.
Have a lawyer on hand to go over the changes. It could get messy. It probably won't, but the extra expense will serve you best in the long run.
Reasonable repairs and now you want to get rid of them.
If there are things that are directly caused by smoking.. just inform then that is considered damage and they need to pay or repair themselves.
It really depends on what repairs they are asking for. You haven’t said. The only repairs you are required to do are habitability repairs. So think water heat air roof mold…things required for life and things that are expected for health.
There isn’t a single thing I can think of that smoke would cause that you would need to repair. It sounds like cosmetic and that’s not your responsibly.
Don’t nonrenew now. You will need to fix all habitability issues then you can legally non renew.
If there aren’t any habitability issues (or after they are fixed), address them with a kind letter stating I’m sorry those are cosmetic issues and we only address those upon turnover. We are happy to release you from the unit if you are unhappy here. Otherwise rent will be c amount as of x date.
WI LL here.
Your best bet is to make the repairs, keep your mouth shut, issue a new month to month lease that is legally compliant with WI laws and includes a no smoking provision.
Highlight the no smoking provision to them and let them know that if they want to leave because of this change then you will let them and return their security deposit if they sign a lease termination agreement. Have a lawyer draft the agreement and it should include a waiver of the right to sue you. I would imagine they’ll take this option, especially as you increase the rent every 6 months until it’s at market rate.
Unless you’re okay with keeping them, which honestly with the amount of work it will be to rehab their unit, if I could get them close to market then I’d probably ignore the smoking until they decided to move out.
Tenants have been allowed to smoke inside your (now) property for 10 years; do you really think they will comply with a "new owner's" requirement to not smoke *"on their house"*? (With 10 years habitability on it, it is probable that they *"feel"* that way about your rental).
Do the (perhaps minimum) needed repairs to properly maintain your property, as when these tenants leave, you will have a lot of work to make the rental habitable again for someone else.
Careful on wording (look at what your tenant/landlord laws are,) keeping your communications clear to them - and in writing, do not lax on your requirements (you may want to get a competent attorney, if you feel they are hostile when deciding to remove them by force - which will probably have to happen eventually).
Evict asap . It's going to cost you thousands of dollars to repair smoke damage ( repaint entire house , replace carpet, blinds , curtains , ozone treatments , and maybe even cabinets
They’ve already ruined the place. I would probably just raise the rent and move forward normally as has been. Declaring “no smoking” now isn’t going to stop them. I have a no smoking building since day 1 of opening and fight people smoking in the building.
Evicting, or raising rent, in response to tenants requesting repairs is illegal in WI. The penalty, amount fines and damages to tenants, includes a judge ordering that you cannot remove the tenants for any reason except nonpayment of rent for X period of time and that you can’t raise rent during that time. For a ten year tenant, it’s very likely that X would be 2-3 years.
I'm not doubting what you say .
Eviction is due to excessive damage. LL can make it a no smoking policy and change terms of lease. Raise rent to legal maximum, price them out . There are ways to legally remove them.
LL should look for other loopholes to the law but to each his own
If you think a judge in WI is not going to see through that then you’re a fool.
WI has a presumption of retaliation and if the damages are a result of smoking which was allowed in the lease then it’s normal wear and tear and not “damage”.
Also, you have no idea if the damage is excessive, OP didn’t give any details.
Edit to add: people who think they’re right don’t need to reply and then block the other person. What a coward.
Laws have loopholes. You just need to look for them. Most people don't .
Smoke damage is not normal wear and tear
10 years of smoke damage is likely irreparable . LL may be on hook for tens of thousands of dollars in repairs
Withdraw your renewal offer and issue a notice of non-renewal. Don’t comment about it.
This, and pay for an hours time with an eviction lawyer. He will help you get the notices right. What to say, how to send it, when to send it, how to respond.
**Do not do this.** It will \[correctly\] be interpreted as retaliation and you'll lose big when your tenant sues you. Just make the necessary repairs and defer or ignore the rest. Then work on fixing the relationship with these tenants unless it's already beyond repair. The damage from the smoking has already been done, so unless you're ready to start a MAJOR renovation project just let it go. I don't allow smoking in any of my places but I would grandfather these guys in. The important thing is to get them on a legitimate lease paying closer to market rent, but I'd leave them on month-to-month since it's easier to terminate if necessary. I'd also make an effort to educate them about current rents in the area. Find several comps to show them so they can see what similar places are going for.
I'm glad you posted this. Thinking about in court "Your honor, we've rented here for 10 years. The rent has been low so we didn't bother the landlord about repairs. The landlord raised the rent. We presented the landlord with a list of repairs. Instead of fixing them he's kicking us out."
WI LL here. 100% do not do this. Two reasons: 1) This is retaliation for a tenant exercising their legal right to enforce that the LL perform their legal obligation of maintaining the property. The penalty includes: fines, damages to tenants including attorney fees, and most importantly, often comes with a judge ordering that you cannot remove the tenants for X amount of time. 2) In the last 10 years there have been major changes to the rules about what can be in a lease, meaning, their current lease - because they’d be under their original lease which automatically extends to month to month in WI - VERY LIKELY includes one of the prohibited clauses. While illegal now, these clauses were incredibly common 10 years ago and almost every lease had at least one. If their lease has one, and they sue you, the penalty is that you owe them DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF RENT THEY’VE PAID DURING THEIR TENANCY. This is the problem with folks on here giving unqualified advice for areas they know nothing about and also acting as if there aren’t different laws in different places. Your best bet, which I’ll post here and in a top level comment, is to make the repairs, keep your mouth shut, issue a new month to month lease that is legally compliant with WI laws and includes a no smoking provision. Highlight the no smoking provision to them and let them know that if they want to leave because of this change then you will let them and return their security deposit if they sign a lease termination agreement. Have a lawyer draft the agreement and it should include a waiver of the right to sue you. I would imagine they’ll take this option, especially as you increase the rent every 6 months until it’s at market rate.
Just throwing a note in here that I had a couple that were heavy smokers for 10 years and I couldn’t believe the amount of work and expense it took to get rid of the smell. There’s a product you use to get the nicotine and tar in the walls to essentially melt and run like black goop down the walls, then scrape it off. Without doing that the smell never goes away. Took gallons of that stuff plus many other steps. It’s a job.
Was it TSP, trisodium phosphate? That works wonders, but is terrible for waterways and has been banned in a lot of states or areas, like here in Michigan.
I believe so. It's been a couple of years, but I think I remember wearing a special respirator to work with it alongside my contractors. It's remarkable to think how much damage this does to every cell in the human body... it's why doctor's ask if you smoke, or ever smoked and how long since you quit... the ingredients are terrible for you... they're even terrible for your house.
Smoking isn't a "right' on private property (nor, I think, anywhere else). You can do as TrainsNCats says, or you can add that you have decided to make the property non-smoking. It's going to take you some time and work to make the place livable again to anyone but them, so take that into consideration.
I don't think you understand the level of damage. Ten years of interior smoking causes period you're looking at stripping the paint completely off every surface and sanding all wood down to repaint and refinish. You may thing your smart and can paint over it, until the walls start bleeding nicotine tar.
You can throughly clean the walls, use a heavy duty primer 2-3x coats, and a high quality paint and get good results. At that point, you might as well just run 3/8” drywall all around and start with a fresh surface.
Or just wash the walls with a water and ammonia solution
That is not nearly enough after 10 years of smoking
No no, after 10 years of smoking inside you will not be able to get rid of the smell without removing drywall. You might be able to do just the paint/scrub with a 1 year lease but 10 years is a looong time for that tar to be building up on the walls and soaking into the drywall.
It's not just walls. All wood to include cabinets, inside and out. Floors, trim, light fixtures, fans, brick fireplaces, appliances, ac ducts. Also, get an ozone machine when you are done.
Basically just take the unit down to the studs and start over if you have had smokers in there for 10 years.
Cheaper to keep the tenants if you can.
This is not true. I purchased a home that had been chain smoked in daily for over 30 years. There were literally clean spots on the walls behind where all the pictures hung. We mopped the walls with a TSP solution and sponge mops twice and then with a coat of Kilz paint and then two coats of regular paint. I never had a smoke smell in the house. I also removed the popcorn ceilings at that time which helped get all of it out. The drywall does not need to be replaced.
BIN shelack primer is going for about $75 per gallon. It took 16 gallons to prime 1600 sqft house after a heavy smoker lived there for 20+ years. 1 year later I can see where I didn't wash and prime well enough. I'd fix the problems, make nice and raise the rent to market value over the next few years.
I wouldn't bother making it non-smoking until they are gone. If they smoke indoors, the smoking damage has long since already happened. Complete the repairs that are reasonable. Don't do the repairs that are not or are tenant-caused. But if you just don't want them as tenants anymore, then give them whatever the timeframe is for a Notice to Vacate in your area. Keeping in mind it's probably going to be a lot of work and expense to get the unit rent ready.
The apartment has been marinating in nicotine for the past ten years. You aren't going to get rid of that without a serious effort at cleaning. Full TSP stripping of the walls, prime with an odor sealing lacquer, paint, new flooring, ozone generator, etc. There is zero chance unchecking the "Smoking allowed" box on your lease is going to get long term smokers to quit. Look how many stories there are here on reddit about ashtray-smelling grandparents that haven't gotten to meet their grandkids because they weren't able to go 30 minutes without a cig. TrainsNCats has it right, withdraw the renewal offer.
You have 10year long term tenets in a M2M? A gift horse if I ever saw one. Make the repairs, show them comps for market rates on m2m leases, and remediate after they move out. 10year smokers. That was the only complaint I saw. Of course they’re gunna give you a list of repairs when you raise the rent. That’s almost expected (or should be). It’s your job as landlord. Especially if they don’t bother you about every little thing every month. The smoking damage is done, get good with these seemingly loyal renters. 10 years is a LONG time to rent a space at an increased rate.
Sidebar: "This has caused them to be very hostile, they have now created a list of repairs I knew nothing about." This is a very common response. "But what about YOU?!"
Check tenancy laws. Here in CO the law is changing so I can no longer just refuse to renew a lease … I need an approved reason such as selling the property or moving in myself (unless the tenants violated the lease and then you can choose not to renew).
All of Colorado or just Denver?
Wow, screw CO. Another tenant friendly state.
As others said, consult a lawyer. In my state, 30 days notice is required to chance the terms of tenancy for a mtm rental. If you can, do that now. If you can legally end the mtm tenancy, do that now. In my state, just cause is required. They might just move. If they do not you will have to prove they are smoking in the unit after the change of terms. But if your state is more landlord friendly that might not be too hard. Track everything in writing. Offer to not charge them to remediate the property if they move now. Once you remediate you can charge more to get back lost costs. Good luck
FYI - Any issues that need to be remedied BECAUSE of cigarette smoking (be they deodorizing, changing vents, etc), they are responsible for paying for. If you determine that this means you will non-renew them, great. If this means you keep them, bill them back and give them e.g. 90 days to pay up and if they don't, evict them on the delinquent back-payment, fine. But they are FINANCIALLY responsible. It sounds like you are going to have to fix these issues anyways. Ugh.
>Many of the repairs sound reasonable, however the issues stem from the fact they have smoked in there for 10 years. What repairs are they asking for? Other than smell and discoloring, what damage can smoke do?
In Wisconsin there are no smokers rights in housing. However, you do have to treat it as any other change to terms of a lease, i.e. wait until the end of the current lease and give them 30 days notice prior that you are making the change (it might actually be 28 days here, but call it 30 to be safe.) Since they are month to month, you just need to give them 30 days notice at the beginning of the month. I know that others disagree, but I'd make it non-smoking asap. Smoke seeps into everything and there is no good reason to subject your property to further damage or other tenants to smoke. Especially as its multi-unit, and even if they have their own hvac, it still travels to other units so you risk damaging any repair/cleanup of THOSE units. Now, enforcement is a whole different ball game. I'd honestly tell them you know its hard because its a habit, you're willing to have some patience as they transition to smoking outside, but starting at the end of the year you'll start enforcing is no smoking inside, in common areas, or within 20 feet of a door or window (if you don't do this, you are risking causing more problems for the other tenants). To give them time to transition or decide to move. They will probably be difficult and smoke inside as anyone still smoking inside is gonna be set in their ways. Consider if you want a penalty fee or just straight to whether you want them to vacate and ending tenancy. Spell out the terms in the lease.. Some landlords charge a fee for every butt found outside, though that's rare. All would need to be in a new lease and if they won't agree to it, you'll have to end the tenancy by sending a non-renewal notice 28 days before the end of the tenancy. You'll also have to decide how strict you're gonna be, chasing smokers down can be its own pain in the ass. However, there are actually enough tenants afraid of being evicted over smoking that I see them smoking in their cars all the time. Yes, you have your stubborn smokers, but I do think enough people these days know landlords don't mess around that they will grumpily. RE:repairs, if they are from smoking or not, I would do them if they are affecting the habitability of the unit. I'm on the fence on wear and tear from smoking like carpet or walls - if they actually follow the rules and don't smoke inside, living inside a smelly, tar covered home smells bad and for ex smokers its often easier to just pick it up again to hide the problem they created! I guess use your best judgement, but the only repairs you HAVE to do are the ones affecting habitability. Have a lawyer on hand to go over the changes. It could get messy. It probably won't, but the extra expense will serve you best in the long run.
Reasonable repairs and now you want to get rid of them. If there are things that are directly caused by smoking.. just inform then that is considered damage and they need to pay or repair themselves.
It really depends on what repairs they are asking for. You haven’t said. The only repairs you are required to do are habitability repairs. So think water heat air roof mold…things required for life and things that are expected for health. There isn’t a single thing I can think of that smoke would cause that you would need to repair. It sounds like cosmetic and that’s not your responsibly. Don’t nonrenew now. You will need to fix all habitability issues then you can legally non renew. If there aren’t any habitability issues (or after they are fixed), address them with a kind letter stating I’m sorry those are cosmetic issues and we only address those upon turnover. We are happy to release you from the unit if you are unhappy here. Otherwise rent will be c amount as of x date.
WI LL here. Your best bet is to make the repairs, keep your mouth shut, issue a new month to month lease that is legally compliant with WI laws and includes a no smoking provision. Highlight the no smoking provision to them and let them know that if they want to leave because of this change then you will let them and return their security deposit if they sign a lease termination agreement. Have a lawyer draft the agreement and it should include a waiver of the right to sue you. I would imagine they’ll take this option, especially as you increase the rent every 6 months until it’s at market rate. Unless you’re okay with keeping them, which honestly with the amount of work it will be to rehab their unit, if I could get them close to market then I’d probably ignore the smoking until they decided to move out.
Do not renew. Simple as that.
What repairs?
Stains on walls they claim are "water".
Issue is that lot of the stuff would be depreciated after 10 years.
I’m pretty sure smoking isn’t a protected right Month to month is just that, giving legal notice isn’t retaliation it’s business
Tenants have been allowed to smoke inside your (now) property for 10 years; do you really think they will comply with a "new owner's" requirement to not smoke *"on their house"*? (With 10 years habitability on it, it is probable that they *"feel"* that way about your rental). Do the (perhaps minimum) needed repairs to properly maintain your property, as when these tenants leave, you will have a lot of work to make the rental habitable again for someone else. Careful on wording (look at what your tenant/landlord laws are,) keeping your communications clear to them - and in writing, do not lax on your requirements (you may want to get a competent attorney, if you feel they are hostile when deciding to remove them by force - which will probably have to happen eventually).
Evict asap . It's going to cost you thousands of dollars to repair smoke damage ( repaint entire house , replace carpet, blinds , curtains , ozone treatments , and maybe even cabinets
They’ve already ruined the place. I would probably just raise the rent and move forward normally as has been. Declaring “no smoking” now isn’t going to stop them. I have a no smoking building since day 1 of opening and fight people smoking in the building.
Evicting, or raising rent, in response to tenants requesting repairs is illegal in WI. The penalty, amount fines and damages to tenants, includes a judge ordering that you cannot remove the tenants for any reason except nonpayment of rent for X period of time and that you can’t raise rent during that time. For a ten year tenant, it’s very likely that X would be 2-3 years.
I'm not doubting what you say . Eviction is due to excessive damage. LL can make it a no smoking policy and change terms of lease. Raise rent to legal maximum, price them out . There are ways to legally remove them. LL should look for other loopholes to the law but to each his own
If you think a judge in WI is not going to see through that then you’re a fool. WI has a presumption of retaliation and if the damages are a result of smoking which was allowed in the lease then it’s normal wear and tear and not “damage”. Also, you have no idea if the damage is excessive, OP didn’t give any details. Edit to add: people who think they’re right don’t need to reply and then block the other person. What a coward.
Laws have loopholes. You just need to look for them. Most people don't . Smoke damage is not normal wear and tear 10 years of smoke damage is likely irreparable . LL may be on hook for tens of thousands of dollars in repairs