Inheriting a smoking tenant in a house hack

[Eric Davenport]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are soon to be closing on a duplex with an inherited tenant that smokes inside the building. She is in the downstairs unit which rents for more than the unit we will stay in upstairs. 

We are doing everything we can to our half to rid of the smoke from the previous tenant (wiping walls with STP, priming with kilz, etc.) but the smell is still awful. I don't even want to put in new carpet or paint until something changes otherwise it will soak into the walls and carpet and our half will always smell like cigarettes. 

She is 4 months in to a year long lease with a Section 8 housing voucher. What are my options? Resign a lease that includes no smoking inside? And if so, do I have to go through HUD to change the lease?

Thank you!