Former Smoker in Apartment
landlord tenant attorney Virginia Aug 11, 2026
Location: northern Virginia. Sorry for the long post. I live in a 1 bed, 1 bath with my two small children. We just moved into a new apartment on the ground floor, but from the same apartment complex.* I didn’t have a chance to physically tour the apartment before we moved in. I walked in on moving day and could immediately tell a former smoker lived in the apartment. The smell was undeniable. I still moved in, but told the leasing office in both a written email asking about the smoke smell and expressing concern for secondhand smoke health risks for my two young children. I also went to the leasing office to ask them about it and what could be done. The leasing office said something to the effect of: “I’m not saying that you’re lying, but I didn’t smell that when I did the walk through. If it’s ongoing we can send maintenance out [did not say specifics] or we can search the surrounding apartments to see if there’s anyone else smoking.” I said ok. I have lived in the new apartment 10 days now and I even bought two Air Doctor purifiers, which have helped. But I still smell the smoke smell every time I walk into the apartment. It lingers. Tonight I met the neighbor and asked gently if she smoked in her apartment. She said that she didn’t in her apartment, only in her car. When she had opened the door I smelled the exact smoke smell I’ve been smelling. But she was super nice and she confirmed that the former tenant did indeed smoke in the apartment all the time, and the management office sent emails about it. I asked her to forward me the emails if she’s able (but don’t have them yet). What legal recourse do I have? Honestly I want to break the lease and get out of here, because it feels like I was tricked into moving into an apartment that would’ve been hard to rent otherwise. And it was so frustrating because I was so stressed that I didn’t think to tour the new apartment ahead of time, because it was the exact same layout as the old one. This entire thing has been massive stressful for me and disruptive for my young children. Any advice is much appreciated!!! *Context: We moved from a 4th floor apartment after six months because the downstairs neighbor issued a noise complaint about my children running throughout the apartment and making loud thumps. She also complained that I used my blender too early in the morning (7:30am, because I was making a breakfast smoothie for my children before we left for daycare at 8am) and my vacuum too late at night (9pm, because a glass lamp had smashed). I conceded that while some of noise complaint was valid and I would try to remedy it, some was not—I should be able to use household appliances in my home. I bought two rugs per the management office request, but they later said they were too thin and didn’t do anything to dull the noise. I also only have my kids every other week, so there were weeks she still complained and it was literally me walking through my apartment. Finally they offered a moving credit and said they had a ground unit available, and I agreed. Living on the ground floor has brought me some peace of mind because at least I don’t have to deal with that issue.
