To remain competitive, apartment owners are seeking opportunities to provide attractive living amenities aligning with renters’ lifestyles. Smoke-free living is one approach that owners have recognized that can make them more appealing to health-conscious renters, gain an edge in community marketability and enjoy considerable savings in apartment home maintenance and liability.
Smoke-free policies greatly reduce smoke-related property damage. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimate turnover cost on a smoking apartment home to be two to seven times that of a smoke-free unit. Typical repairs of a smoked-in unit include replacing carpets, window coverings, appliances and cleaning and re-painting. Maintenance savings typically average $5,000 per turn.
“From an operator’s standpoint, the decision to move to smoke-free environments was an easy one,” says Yunmi Martin, Senior Vice President of Shea Apartments, which owns and operates more than 8,100 apartment homes in California, Colorado and Washington. “When turning over an apartment, there is considerably more effort involved in making sure that a former smoking unit is clean and ready for its next resident. It’s one less thing for us to worry about.”
