Cigarette smoking tilePhil McKenzie signed a yearlong lease but is moving out of his Chattanooga apartment four months early because he and his girlfriend just can’t deal with the neighbors.
“People have been smoking in the other apartments and it seeps into our apartment,” he said. “We’ve lived here for eight months but we just can’t take it anymore.” His girlfriend is asthmatic and also severely allergic to some types of smoke, he said. When complaints to management and even the police (not all the smoke was tobacco-based) didn’t work, they decided they had to leave, McKenzie said.
They’ve already found another place to live — and it’s smoke-free.
“It’s a deal breaker for us,” McKenzie said.
Smoke-free apartment complexes like the one McKenzie plans to move into are becoming more common across the United States as a growing number of apartment owners ban tenants from lighting up in their units.