Non smoker here.

The apartment building currently has 3 rented units and 3 empty units. 2 of the units that are empty can be rented within a couple of weeks of us closing in late July but the third unit is going to take some time to renovate because there was a smoker that lived in the unit for 13 years and nothing has been touched since she moved out...

Rent will be prorated through August until I find a tenant minus costs until sept 1st at which time I will return the remaining deposit minus costs.She seemed satisfied with that and happy to be let out of the lease.One change I made as a result of the comments here is to start asking if they have pets or are smokers, I mention No Pets, No Smoking, twice in my listing but still have people apply who have pets.

Your job here is to restate the conversation in such a way that they realize that the $20 is them already receiving great value, because no one else is going to take a smoker or a barking dog and certainly not at the rent they're paying now. 

So today just ask them like ALL SMOKERS IN CA its illegal to smoke in doors .. we are not talking about adverse weather at any time of the year. 

The odor would be my bigger concern.My nose is forever scarred from renovating a smokers house with 18 years baked into everything inside the house.

I bought this property knowing there was a change for forced appreciation, house was well lived in with smokers for about 20+ years.

Your unit is much more likely to catch fire from smoking, cooking, candles, or an electrical short.Exclude smokers.

Hello,My previous tenant a frequent smoker left burning cigarette stubs on wooden stairs at least at three different spots and there are very conspicuous dark spots there, I have been putting of remediating this for quite sometime now.

My take: once you inherit a smoker, in a single-family unit, try to keep them as long as you reasonably can.