VVO Group has decided to prohibit smoking on balconies in all new and future renovated properties. The aim of this decision is to ensure healthy and comfortable living conditions for all tenants. After the reform, smoking in these properties will only be allowed in designated areas. The first new and renovated properties with a ban on smoking on balconies will be completed in February 2017.
Indoor smoking in the apartment is prohibited in all tenancy agreements signed after 1 May 2011. In addition, smoking is prohibited in the common facilities, such as stairwells, lifts, basement, clubrooms and sauna and bathroom facilities.
“The spreading of tobacco smoke from a balcony to adjacent apartments is one of the most common concerns among our tenants. With this policy, we want to ensure that rental apartments are a good place to live in this sense, too,” says Juha Heino, VVO Group’s Director of Customer Relations.
In the spirit of the Tobacco Act
The new Tobacco Act that entered into force in August allows housing companies to apply to their municipality for a prohibition of smoking on balconies and in other outdoor areas of a dwelling, such as a terrace. A municipal authority can prohibit smoking if structures of the building or other circumstances allow smoke to spread, other than in exceptional cases, for example from one balcony to another. The spreading of tobacco smoke will be a sufficient reason for imposing a prohibition and there will be no need to prove a health hazard, contrary to the current procedure based on the Health Protection Act. The same possibility to intervene will also apply to situations in which smoke spreads from one dwelling to another through the structures of the building. [1]
“In the spirit of the provisions of the new Tobacco Act that apply to housing companies, we are now updating our tenancy agreements in our new and future renovated properties.”
The first properties where a ban on smoking on balconies will enter into force are Bostoninkaari 2 in Hyrylä, Tuusula, Helsingin Retkeilijänkatu 1 in Rastila, Helsinki and Eteläinen Hesperiankatu 18 in Töölö, Helsinki, to be completed in February 2017.
Further information:
Juha Heino, Director of Customer Relations, VVO Group plc, tel. +358 20 508 3704, firstname.lastname(at)vvo.fi
[1] MSAH, www.stm.fi/en, “New, stricter Tobacco Act enters into force on 15 August 2016”, 29 June 2016
VVO Group plc offers rental apartments and housing services in Finnish growth centres. The vision of the housing investment company is to be a pioneer in housing and the customer’s number-one choice.