Our co-op's governing documents don't specifically set forth any rules or regulations when it comes to lingering odors from food or cigarette smoke. However, the co-op's House Rules do contain basic guidelines informing shareholders that a specific protocol must be followed when issuing a complaint against a neighbor. The first step would be to try and work it out with your neighbor. If that doesn't work, then the aggrieved party is encouraged to file a written complaint describing the problem. The managing agent usually does a good job in resolving these types of disputes by getting the involved parties to be more reasonable and to cooperate with each other. There have been cases though where the Board has had to become involved and serve as mediator. Luckily for us, shareholders have agreed to work things out, and in most cases, fans/air purifiers have been purchased or the smoker has agreed to smoke only in designated areas within his/her apartment.
With respect to food odors, I think that claiming the implied warranty of habitability would be a last step because it would be very difficult to argue that someone's cooking severely prevents you from living a comfortable life. Also, I'm not so sure if the Board can easily defend its actions by simply stating that its decision making, either pro or con, is based on the "business judgment rule", a rule that protects Boards in their decision making processes. In other words, cigarette smoke would probably be easier to tackle.
Topic: Smoke and cooking odors (Read 1938 times)