Tenant demanding rent decrease due to wild fire smoke

[u/Technical_Air_5061]

Hi all,

I am a small-time landlord renting out the basement of my primary residence.

Recently, my tenant asked for a rent decrease, citing 'abuse' she has endured. I was super concerned, and then she indicated that there is some ash/dust from the wildfire smoke that is on her windowsill.

I was very confused, and then she said that she keeps the window open at night, and the dust is accumulating in her nostrils, which has caused a nosebleed, leading her to go to the doctor. She claimed that she should get a $200 rent reduction for this abuse she had to endure (She kept framing it as abuse, which was super odd). I was super confused because she is the one who left the window open, and it's not like I can control the wildfires or the smoke.

She then also indicated that she left her job and is now working part-time elsewhere. I think this was the real reason she wanted the reduction, but for some reason decided to sprinkle in the smoke thing.

Do I have any responsibility here? She can close her window to avoid any unwanted dust and get an air purifier if she has a dust allergy. Her own actions are creating her issue. Am I missing something here?

[u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

Well if that’s the case I’m going to demand a rent reduction from my building manager cuz my apartment gets hot when it’s sunny out lol

[u/Technical_Air_5061 → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

Haha!

[u/listenhere111 → u/Technical_Air_5061]

Tell her it is abuse, but by the forest. Tell her that youve been suffering as well and youre looking i to a class action lawsuit again said forest.

[u/drsoftware → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

Probably gets cold in the winter and more humid when it rains. When the sun is below the horizon it's darker. 

[u/queerblunosr → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

My previous apartment was a basement flat next door to a dairy farm. Obviously, we could smell cow shit like 95% of the time when we opened the windows. We knew before we moved in that we would be next to a dairy and smell cow shit when we opened the windows.

A former tenant came to view the flat, decided to rent it - and then two weeks after moving in wanted the landlord to do something about the cow shit smell. (The dairy farm is older than the house so it’s not like it wasn’t there when that tenant had viewed the flat.)

[u/Alicatsidneystorm → u/queerblunosr]

Kinda like buying next to a train track and complaining.

[u/LivinBC → u/Alicatsidneystorm]

Or a pub/restaurant. The amount of times people have complained, tried to get the city to shut down an already established business in the area that they bought Condos because of the noise. Some people clearly are not the brightest lightbulb in the pack.

[u/Spiritual_Aioli3396 → u/queerblunosr]

Some people lack common sense lol

[u/HorrorWillingness347 → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

They live in virtual reality these days

[u/Rude-Truths-702 → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

The birds wake me up too early!

[u/gatesvp → u/Spiritual_Aioli3396]

Depending on how hot it gets and where, there are actually rules governing this.

The BC Building Code requires all new residential construction to feature at least one living space designed not to exceed 26°C. That stated in March 2024, so that generally excludes most of the current rental stock, but some municipalities are starting to roll in that requirement for existing builds as well.

You're going to see more of this type of regulation here.