Condo Tenant Complaining About Neighbor Smoking

[Warren T.]

Hello BP community. Need your advice. Sorry in advance for the long story!

I have a condo unit in Southern California that I recently rented out; however-- on the first day the tenant moved in, they notified me that they smelled a strong cigarette odor in the hallways, and it really bothered them. Since the previous tenants never really complained about the smoke odor before, it was never brought to my attention until now. The first day the tenant moved in, I offered the tenant to break the lease, since it was a really big issue for them (and they hadn't moved in any large furniture). But they were in a bind-- since their previous landlord was selling their unit and they needed to move out asap. I gave the tenant the night to think it over and asked them to give me their final decision the following day. The next day, I contacted the tenant to find out what they wanted to do. They said they came back to the unit with a friend that night, and the smell "wash't that bad", so they agreed to continue the lease. As a courtesy, I told them that I would notify the HOA property manager regarding the cigarette smell in the hallways, and all was good (so I thought).

Then last week, I get an email that the cigarette smoke is getting worse and the tenant can now smell it inside their bathroom. The tenant found out that the next door neighbor is smoking inside their unit and the smoke is seeping through their walls and/or the ventilation system. The tenant talked to the neighbors, and the neighbors said that the HOA does not allow smoking in the common areas or on the patio, so they smoke inside their unit. My tenant then sent an email directly to the HOA property manager regarding the smoking and they gave her the following response:

"We’ve issued a letter to the owner about the excessive smoking. Since this is a condo complex and not an apartment complex, we cannot force the owner to act, especially since we don’t have rules that ban smoking. We can write about nuisances, which is what we did. We have protocols we can follow to encourage the neighboring owner to act but the first step is the initial warning letter (everything needs to be documented), then a call to a hearing with the Board, after which the Board can decide to impose potential fines. This is the civil code/legal rules."

Today, the tenant emailed stating that the smell is getting significantly stronger in the bathroom walls and believes it is a "health hazard" and is asking for a rent reduction until this issue is resolved. 

What would you guys do?