The Tobacco Act enables housing corporations to submit an application requesting the municipality to impose a ban that forbids smoking on the balconies of individual apartments in a building belonging to the housing corporation, in the outdoor areas to which the apartments have access, and inside apartments. The decision to apply for a smoking ban must be made by majority vote in the general meeting of the housing corporation.
The municipality must impose a smoking ban if, due to structural or other conditions, tobacco smoke regularly spreads to an outdoor area belonging to another apartment or inside another apartment.
Smoking may only be banned if the spreading of smoke cannot be prevented by repairs or other reasonable measures. Before imposing the ban, the occupant of the apartment must be given the opportunity to take measures to prevent the smoke from spreading.
The prohibition of smoking inside an apartment does not apply to the use of electronic cigarettes.
The cost of the administrative smoking ban process varies (estimates are between 500 to 1,500 euros) depending on the working hours spent in the process. For this reason, it is advisable to prepare the application carefully.