Whether or not you can smoke in your flat or even on the balcony depends on several different factors and can in some cases come down to the goodwill of your landlord and neighbours.
Lots of people smoke in Spain, and lots of people enjoy smoking inside their property whether it’s rented or owned.
Smoking in someone else’s property, however, can be a little more complicated. Many renters in Spain may wonder if their landlord can stop them from smoking in their flat.
The short answer is yes, they can, but it must be specified in the contract.
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Spain’s Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU) states that landlords are free to prohibit or restrict tenants from doing certain things, such as having pets, smoking or carrying out construction work in their property.
Therefore, landlords in Spain do have the power to stop tenants from smoking in the flat. However, in order to legally ban smoking there must be a specific clause in the contract stating this, signed by both parties, otherwise the tenants will be able to smoke without any legal problems.
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What about on the balcony or terrace?
For private areas, such as terraces or balconies, things are a little more complicated. Often the rules and regulations vary depending on the municipality and rules agreed by the community of neighbours – known as la comunidad in Spanish.
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Even if your landlord has no problem with you chain smoking inside his or her property, you’ll still need to know the specific rules of your community and consult the agreed rules that regulate the use of common and private areas.
Article 396 of Spain’s Civil Code outlines rules that even if terraces and balconies are private and can only be accessed from inside, they can still be considered to be part of the common space and therefore la comunidad could in theory ban smoking there.
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This is related to the fact that Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law establishes that: “The owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the building activities prohibited in the statutes [of la comunidad] which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.
“This means that if the bylaws stipulate that smoking is not allowed on the balconies and terraces of properties, or if a neighbour complains and it is put to a vote at the owners’ meeting and it is approved by a majority, the community could prohibit the neighbours from smoking on the terraces or balconies of their homes.”
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Obviously, this depends on your neighbours. Some communities may have smokers and allow smoking on terraces or balconies, as long as it does not cause a nuisance to other neighbours and the general rules of coexistence and safety are respected.
However, other communities may have strict rules and try to totally ban smoking in these areas, especially if tobacco smoke negatively affects their day to day life.
Ignoring the rules can lead to penalties and conflict with your neighbours. In this case it’s always advisable to find out the rules and be respectful, especially if you’re new in the building.
In Spain, where around three-quarters of people own their homes, many people have been in their properties for decades and already have sets of established rules.
