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No Smoking, Please: Virginia May Make it Easier to Ban Smoking in Condo Units

  • February 24th 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

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2000 Clarendon, a condo building in Northern Virginia that banned smoking.

Condominium buildings with smoking bans are not wholly uncommon in the DC area, but Virginia is looking to make it easier to put those bans in place.

Last week, the Virginia Senate passed a bill enabling condo boards to pass rules banning smoking in common areas as well as inside individual units. Unit owners would be able to overturn or amend the ban with a majority vote.

Because the House of Delegates passed the bill last month (and approved the Senate's amendment earlier this week), the bill is now headed to the governor's office to be signed into law. 

Typically, smoking bans require an amendment to the bylaws, which usually requires a vote by the unit owners rather than the condo board. The new law would not be applicable to communities whose bylaws already have provisions superseding the law (eg. if the board can already amend the bylaws, if the bylaws already have protections for smoking, etc.).

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/no-smoking-virginia-may-make-it-easier-to-ban-smoking-in-condo-units/17923.

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