Balcony smoking ban predicted
Smoking on apartment balconies could be banned if smoking bylaws are enforced by body corporate committees across Queensland.
Travis Schultz from Schultz Toomey O’Brien Lawyers said smokers were entitled to smoke within their own unit but the body corporate was now able to pass a bylaw that prohibited smoking on balconies within the apartment complex or any part of the common property.
“The rationale for bylaws of that type is that unit balconies can be in very close proximity to each other and, as a result, cigarette smoke can easily drift and insult the nasal senses of an adjoining owner,” Mr Schultz said. “There’s actually a suggestion in NSW that they’re going to move towards having strata legislation that might ban smoking on balconies and force smokers to go one step further and actually contain their smoke.”
He said under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 a body corporate can set bylaws such as prohibiting smoking, as the legislation gives power to the body corporate to impose such rules. For an owner occupier of an apartment within a complex, it may appear to be over policing of rights but Mr Schultz said that was not the case.
“Smoking is not just an issue of comfort, it’s also an issue of health and with strong evidence of the harm caused by passive smoking, on that ground I think it can and should be regulated, however common sense should apply,” Mr Schultz said.
“If there is legislation that simply bans it then that isn’t going to provide balance because it doesn’t take into account peculiar circumstances where, for example units might be townhouses that are semi-detached and smoking on one person’s balcony is not going to cause any inconvenience to anyone else’s health risk.”
AccomNews is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.
