Smoke-Free Apartments and Condos in Canada

Two layers of rules

Housing smoking rules come in two layers. Provincial tobacco laws decide what is smoke-free by statute, mostly shared indoor space. The lease or condo bylaw decides what happens behind your own door. Mixing them up causes most of the arguments.

Canadian law has no “smoker’s right”, as Manitoba’s government puts it. But without a building policy, a tenant is generally free to smoke at home.

What the law covers

• Common areas. Ontario makes the common indoor areas of condos, apartment buildings and residences smoke-free and vape-free: elevators, stairwells, hallways, parking garages, laundry rooms and lobbies. Manitoba says smoking is never allowed in a building’s common areas. Saskatchewan counts common areas of multi-unit residential buildings as enclosed public places. Alberta’s Act includes common areas of multi-unit residential facilities, with patios, pools and enclosed parking garages.
• Near doors. British Columbia keeps smoking and vaping six metres away from doorways, open windows and air intakes that connect to common areas.
• Social housing in the north. Nunavut bans smoking, vaping and cannabis use in Government of Nunavut staff and public housing.
• Inside units. Ontario’s page says smoking and vaping in a private home are generally allowed unless a lease, agreement or condo bylaw says otherwise. In the Northwest Territories, the government tells renters to ask the landlord whether smoking is allowed.

What the lease can do

In British Columbia a landlord can require a smoke-free and vape-free unit, but it has to be written in the tenancy agreement. Without that term, tenants can smoke or vape in their units and on their balconies. If the agreement bans it and a tenant smokes anyway, that is a breach. The tenant may have to pay for smoke damage, and the landlord may be able to end the tenancy. B.C. also notes that a no-smoking clause written before 17 October 2018 covers smoking cannabis but not vaping it.

Buildings that adopt a smoke-free policy can also extend it to balconies or the whole property, as B.C. describes. See smoking on balconies and patios for the outdoor side. If you are drafting a clause, the smoke-free lease clause generator gives sample wording.

If smoke reaches your unit

Document it. Note dates, times and how long it lasts, and what you did to limit it. Then follow the route in your province.

1. Tell the landlord in writing. Ontario and Manitoba both start here. A neighbour smoke complaint letter can help structure it.
2. Ontario. If that does not solve it, apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board, which decides each case individually. A landlord may seek eviction if a tenant’s smoking interferes with other tenants’ enjoyment of their homes or seriously impairs safety.
3. British Columbia. Tenants have a right to quiet enjoyment, but you must show the problem is ongoing and affects your health and enjoyment of the unit. The Residential Tenancy Branch handles the dispute.
4. Manitoba. Talk to the neighbour, consider sealing gaps, record the problem and tell your landlord. If it persists, you can appeal to the Residential Tenancies Branch.

We did not find official guidance on tribunal steps for the other provinces, so we do not describe them here.

The health case behind the complaints

Health Canada says there is no safe level of second-hand smoke exposure, and that ventilation and cleaning the air do not eliminate it. That is why many tenants press for a policy rather than a fan. The evidence is summarized in the health effects of secondhand smoke. For other rules in your province see smoking and vaping laws by province.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Your lease and your province’s tenancy law decide the outcome.