Smoking in Shared Spaces for Five Years Causes Harm
Even After Calling the Police: "Why Only Us?"... 'Brazen'
A story was shared about someone feeling stressed due to a neighbor smoking cigarettes in the apartment's internal stairway.
On the 26th, a post titled "Called the police at 4 a.m. because of hallway smoking. Please help" was uploaded to an online community. The author, Mr. A, said, "I've been fighting with the downstairs man who has been smoking in the hallway for five years," and added, "It's an old-style stairway apartment, and the man walks between the upper and lower floors smoking. He mainly smokes right in front of our front door."
The problematic neighbor is not the immediate downstairs neighbor but the neighbor next door on the lower floor, who comes up half a flight of stairs and smokes between floors. Mr. A, who came home after work early the previous morning, saw the man smoking but endured it once. However, when he saw him smoking again, he went outside and said, "Don't smoke in the hallway; smoke inside your apartment."
Then the neighbor retorted, "Don't you have any elders, you son of a b****," Mr. A claimed. Unable to tolerate it any longer, Mr. A called the police, and the neighbor went inside. The neighbor's wife came out and said, "Sometimes he might smoke one cigarette. Didn't you call him a 'dog' first? Everyone smokes; why are you only complaining about us?"
Mr. A said, "The man cursed first and even grabbed my collar," adding, "The police said they could file a complaint for verbal abuse but need evidence. Since it was early morning, there was no loud noise, but the police told me to go inside because I was disturbing other residents. I apologized and went in. I couldn't even properly say what I wanted to."
He continued, "When it's mealtime, the man eats and happily smokes after the meal, while others smell cigarette smoke inside their homes," and also claimed, "I've woken up because of the cigarette smell, and in summer, I can't open the windows freely. In winter, the hallway is hazy with cigarette smoke. He even spits phlegm, so the walls are yellowed."
Furthermore, he said, "Because of the cigarette problem, the upstairs neighbor put a note on the window saying, 'Please do not smoke. If you don't have the strength to go down to the first floor, either quit smoking or make an extreme choice,'" emphasizing, "The residents' patience is at its limit."
At the same time, Mr. A said, "I was a smoker too, so I understand that feeling," but added, "I've talked to the security office countless times and also spoke to the resident representative. I've tried everything I could. It's been like this for five years, and I feel like I'm going crazy. I just wish he wouldn't smoke in the hallway."
Meanwhile, the National Health Promotion Act stipulates that if more than half of the households in a multi-unit housing under the Housing Act apply to designate all or part of the hallways, stairs, elevators, and underground parking lots of that housing as non-smoking areas, those areas must be designated as non-smoking zones. Therefore, common areas such as hallways, stairs, elevators, and underground parking lots can be designated as non-smoking zones and regulated accordingly. Additionally, if there is damage caused by smoking inside a unit, compensation can be claimed by proving the damage. In a case where a non-smoker moved out due to harm caused by smokers smoking in their residence and hallway and filed a lawsuit for damages against the smoker, the court recognized part of the compensation claimed by the non-smoker.
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