NS/NP

We’ve all seen it. No smoking and no pets. I am allowed to smoke in the home I share with my wife and two cats – all non-smokers.  I would hate to have to go outside to smoke. So I must admit getting a chill of fear every time I look at all the NS/NPs in the rental listings. It seems to me that a lot of landlords and ladies just slap an NS/NP on their rental ads and try to avoid the issue entirely.

In some cases, they may be hanging themselves. My local rental market is wide-open all winter, then right as a drum in a summer. A friend of mine said one landlord had no problems filling his apartments and rental houses year-round because he allowed pets. With a security deposit.

For those landlords with empty properties, the Sensible Smoker would say – “Drop the whole NS/NP thing, unless you’re a fanatic or the property has special features – like no room for animals to run or being constructed entirely out of match heads, making smokers’ butts extremely dangerous.”

The Sensible Smoker asks landlords to judge each prospective tenant as a responsible or irresponsible person and then set the rules based on your judgment. If you’re worried about urine-stained rugs or smoke-stained ceilings, plan for that in the rent you charge and the security deposit you collect.

In the New Depression, some landlords who may be smarting for tenants might consider renting to smokers – who – except for smoking – may turn out to be the best tenants the landlord ever has. If I was renting and the landlord or lady let me smoke inside, I’d want to keep him or her very happy, indeed.

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