On April 24, 2017, Attorney Ken Krems was featured on the front page of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in its article “Landlord-tenant bar busy tackling ‘legal pot’ issue.” Attorney Krems, a leader in the field of real estate law who represents more than 20 companies managing approximately 15,000 apartments in Massachusetts, was interviewed by the news publication regarding the legal implications facing property managers following Massachusetts’ legalization of marijuana.
Now that the ballot question on recreational marijuana has been approved, the question for landlords is what can they do about this and what rights do they have.
Article by Kenneth Krems for the Bay State Apartment Owner publication
In 2008, there were very few smoke-free portions of apartment buildings in Massachusetts, though there was a growing interest. I wrote in the first quarter 2008 Bay State Apartment Owner, that it might be the wave of the future. Much has happened with smoke-free housing over the last few years, and it seems that this will, indeed, be the wave of the future.
Since early 2008, a number of new, luxury, completely smoke-free buildings have opened, such as 75 SL in Medford and Archstone Avenir in Boston. These are buildings where the resident is not only prohibited form smoking in the common areas, but the residents and residents' visitors are also prohibited from smoking in the apartments.
The Boston Housing Authority announced this year that within the next few years it hopes to make all of its developments smoke-free. Its first smoke-free development, Washington-Beech, is now open. The Boston Public Health Commission is embarking on an ambitious program to encourage landlords to make their buildings smoke-free. We will be hearing more about this in the coming months.
Article by Kenneth Krems for Bay State Apartment Owner publication
Over the last few years, much has been written about secondhand smoke. A report by the surgeon general of the United States in 2006 declared that "even small amounts of secondhand smoke exposure can be harmful to people's health." Since that report was published, there have been an increasing number of newspaper and magazine articles written about the potentially harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
There are currently many smoke-free office buildings, public buildings, hotels, restaurants, and bars. As the public becomes more knowledgeable about the effects of secondhand smoke, there should be an increased demand for completely smoke-free housing: housing where smoking is banned inside the apartments as well as in the common areas.