Smoke Free Apartments
Smoke Free Apartments in Tampa Bay, Florida
You won’t find a restaurant in Tampa Bay, Florida that allows it and Tampa-area hotels have offered a choice for years. We’re talking about smoking. A state-wide ban on smoking in restaurants has been in effect for a while and even the University of South Florida (USF) restricts students, faculty and staff to designated smoking areas. Now, apartment communities are offering smoke free Tampa apartments as an option.
Offering smoke free apartments in Tampa is just one more extra perk apartment communities are looking to offer their tenants in order to improve their health and overall enjoyment of coming home to no more cigarette butts on the walkways, no more holding your breath as you pass people in the breezeway smoking outside their door, and no more smoke wafting up into your apartment from the neighbors downstairs! There are many benefits to a smoke free apartment in Tampa, whether it’s to maintain a clean dwelling or to maintain clean lungs!
Children as well as adults exposed to secondhand smoke can encounter serious health issues. For apartment residents, secondhand smoke can be a major concern. It can easily drift in from other apartments and common areas and make its way through doorways, walls, porches, ventilation systems and even through the plumbing and electrical lines. This is why many communities have decided on smoke free apartments in Tampa. You no longer have to worry about opening the window to get fresh air, and instead being met with the stench of cigarettes!
Besides the benefit of smoke free apartments in Tampa, you have the advantage of knowing the carpet and walls of your dwelling haven’t absorbed harmful toxins from cigarette smoke from the previous renters. And if you’ve ever felt awkward asking your friends to not smoke in your apartment this gives you the perfect excuse to tell your visiting nicotine-loving friends to put away their smokes while they are in your home.
And if you are a smoker, this may be just the incentive to help you break the habit. Who wants to be denied a nice smoke free Tampa apartment because you smoke?! And if you have a family with young children, who are more susceptible to secondhand smoke and allergies anyways, this amenity is definitely an added benefit to help you quit smoking for their health as well as yours.
So open those windows, slide open those balcony doors and take a deep breath knowing your nose (and lungs) won’t be plagued by secondhand smoke.
Watch a Video on Smoke Free Apartments from the American Lung Association
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my Tampa apartment smoke free certified?
The Florida Apartment Association partners with the Department of Health and Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida with a program to certify apartment communities and implement smoke free policies. You can visit FAA Smoke Free Certified Communities to learn more. Another, and even easier, method is to ask your apartment community what their policies are.
How can I ask my neighbor to stop smoking in our smoke free apartment community in Tampa?
Sometimes the neighborly approach is the best way. Depending on your community policies, and how comfortable you feel chatting with your neighbor, a quick conversation regarding your concerns about second hand smoke exposure could do the trick. If your community has a fairly strict smoke free policy and you're not getting through to your neighbor, you may need to loop management in. The should be able to propose solutions in line with property policies.
What does it actually mean to live in a "smoke-free" apartment in Tampa?
While definitions can be different depending on an individual property's policy, generally, at least a portion of the property will have areas where smoking is prohibited. Generally, at the very least, common areas ban smoking, or smoking within a certain number of feet of common areas. There are communities that do implement policies that are more comprehensive where the entire property, including within apartment homes, disallow smoking. Ask your individual apartment community for their specific policies.