Condo Tenants Complaining of Marijuana Smell

[Courtney Jo Claffey]

Greetings:

I own a condo which I lived in for 10 years. I bought a new house 14 months ago and rented the condo out. The condo is a top floor unit in a building with 5 other units. I had renters for one year and they had no complaints. I have new (1 month in) renters and they complain non-stop via text messages all hours of the day and weekends, about “strong marijuana and cigarette smoke”, coming from the bathrooms, kitchen sink and oven. I have been to the unit several times since they moved in and was there countless days/ hours prior to their move-in and have never smelled any smoke in their unit, but have smelled it outside of another unit, two floors down, which share a common, I interior stairwell. I installed new door draft protection on the door and bought them an additional fabric door draft stopper.

I have notified the HOA of the smell outside of the other unit and the HOA sent a compliance letter to that unit. The bylaws have a clause that no resident should allow noxious odors to come from their unit.

The HOA president has inspected the stairwell when my tenants have complained and she also does not smell anything.

My tenants keep contacting me about this and I am wondering what else, if anything, should I do? Am I liable for their headaches because of the marijuana smell? I am out of options on how to fix the problem. 

Side note: they have also complained about the kitchen sink not draining properly. Well, they had a stopper in it...

Side side note: this is in Washington State where marijuana is legal.

Any suggestions for dealing with these tenants would be appreciated.

[Eric C.]

They seam like problem tenants, but if they smell something noxious, that is a real problem.  Offer them to break their lease and let them find another place.