A tenant's text: marijuana!

[Jem J.]

Hello BP! Below is a copy of my tenant's text. She also mentioned that next time, she will call the cops. Any advice on how to handle this as a landlord? This is a first. The rental property is in an "A" category community with rents from 1900 to 2200, 1 BR and 2 BR units.

Many thanks!

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"The 3rd floor hallway smelled like marijuana two nights ago. It was very potent to the point that you could smell it in the stairwell too. The same thing happened about a week and a half ago. Either someone has developed a new habit or it is a new resident but it is unacceptable. I am wondering if anyone else has complained "
Sent from my iPhone

[Max T.]

Marijuana use has effectively been decriminalized here in Philadelphia. Unless there is evidence of distribution the cops won't really do anything. It will take them hours to come out and by then the smell will likely be gone.

You probably have a clause in your lease about illegal drugs. You could send notice of the violation to the offending tenant. You could also offer to let the offended tenant out of her lease if she is not happy.

I gave one set of tenants in a duplex a stern email when I smelled it but that was mostly due to the fact that I had a vacancy in the other apartment and had a lot of prospective renters coming through for showings.

The other concern here would be smoke residue messing up your paint job and leaving an odor that lingers. Perhaps you could schedule an inspection of the smokey unit and see if that is an issue there.