Tenant seeks injunction to stop neighbour smoking

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
A recent story this week whereby a tenant in an apartment complex complained of health problems from cigarette smoke coming from an adjoining suite by another tenant. The affected tenant complains cigarette smoke was coming from electrical outlets, under the shared wall between the two suites etc. If in fact this is found to be true, then someone has some "splain'in to do Lucy!", I would be ripping a new arsehole out of the city building inspectors for compensation to fix my suite.

Brings to mind my previous stories on Now Public when I stated "Strongly" the shoddy Building practices in this province with Municipal Building Inspectors looking the other way obviously. Vancouver has one of the highest prices in the country for living space, where a 500 square foot apartment in Vancouver can set you back close to a half million dollars. Certainly at that price you would think you would get a well built suite, but don't and most likely never will.

For the last 40 years US/Canadian Building Codes state "Adjoining Suites with shared walls "MUST" have a "90 minute" Fire Barrier between shared wall, no ifs, ands, or buts! A fire barrier is a wall sealed from the floor to ceiling as well as shared piping and electrical outlets.

If this guy can smell cigarette smoke in his suite, that is the least of his worries, cause obviously the building is substandard and the Municipal Building Inspectors we pay taxes for are either incompetent, or crooked in bed with developers. You decide!

Bottom line; "If cigarette smoke can get through, so can Fire, in my opinion the Building is a Fire Trap waiting to happen!"

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=43e1b9d8-e0c4-4f2c-9181-521f467f681f
Tenant seeks injunction to stop neighbour smoking
Retired actor with bronchial woes says smoke seeps into suite
Keith Fraser, The Province
Published: Friday, October 31, 2008

A retired Vancouver actor wants a court injunction to prevent his next- door neighbour from smoking in their West End apartment building.

In a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Mina Erian Mina, 74, says that since October 2006 his neighbour, Christine Jestadt, has "created a nuisance" with her smoking.

Mina says the smoke has come through electrical wall sockets, windows and other access points in his suite in the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) building on Cardero Street.

He claims he's suffered various health problems, including respiratory injuries, bronchospasm, reduced chest expansion, chest tightness, aggravation of coronary artery disease, loss of sleep, fatigue and anxiety.