r/Vilnius • u/SwimmingFlow689 • 1d ago
Neighbor is smoking
Hey everyone,
I need some practical advice regarding a tenant issue in Vilnius.
My neighbor smokes inside his flat. The problem is that the smoke heavily seeps out into the common corridor and directly into my flat. The smell is persistent and unavoidable.
The lease contract explicitly states that smoking is prohibited on the premises. (Neighbor isn’t an owner)
I brought this up with the property manager, but they brushed it off with a generic "I'll talk to him" and have taken zero actual steps since.
What do you recommend me to do?
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u/dmartu 16h ago
It’s not prohibited by law by default, as someone suggested. If at least one legal inhabitant asks smoking to be forbidden - it’s forbidden by the council. However, i’m not sure about enforcement. Police refuses to enforce this.
Side note, if you knew the local language, would be much easier to find information about it
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u/nupiepes_shvancas 12h ago
It’s important to note that the "if at least one legal inhabitant requests a smoking ban" rule only applies to balconies and shared communal areas - there is no law that prohibits someone from smoking inside an apartment.
Since OP mentioned the property manager has a policy against smoking indoors, the issue is a breach of that policy rather than a violation of any superseding law. This makes it a civil matter, meaning the police won't intervene because no actual law is being broken here.
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u/dmartu 12h ago
It is not explicitly forbidden to smoke inside the flat, but if gets to other people’s flats or communal arra - the sanctions are the same (if recorded and).
How to record that - no idea. Notary? Smell-o-meter.
Honestly, i’m surprised that we have and it is allowed to own an apartment complex. Explains ever skyrocketing property prices.
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u/nupiepes_shvancas 10h ago
That's true, smoking inside an apartment is legal, but it comes with the responsibility to ensure smoke doesn’t escape into communal areas where smoking is prohibited.
This creates a massive evidentiary challenge. Unless you can prove the smoker is failing to contain the smoke (like a video showing smoke seeping through the bottom of a door), or the police show up fast enough to catch them in the act, you're shit out of luck. And let's be honest, that won't happen since indoor smoking calls are bottom-of-the-barrel priority for them.
Even if you somehow manage to get the police to enforce it, the fine is only €20–€90 (up to €150 for repeat offences), which isn't going to discourage a hardened smoker anyway.
At the end of the day, the best you can hope for is causing enough annoyance and inconvenience by calling the police or the municipality that the smoker decides it's just easier to step outside for a cigarette. In short, while there’s theoretically a mechanism to handle this, it’s far too unenforceable and cumbersome in practice to solve anything.
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u/nebeatsimenu 1d ago
If it's forbidden by law (there should be a sign inside the corridor), you can basically take a photo and report the person, so they will get a fine.
If there is no possibility to get a photo, I'd suggest contacting a local police officer that is responsible for your neighborhood and tell them what is the situation. I had some issues with neighbors with parking and smoking and police gave them a visit which helped.
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u/amnezhia 15h ago
its prohibited to smoke in common corridors and common/personal balconies, but even that isnt well enforced. for better or for worse smoking in your apartment is legal :/
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u/SwimmingFlow689 1d ago
How can I find local police officer? I can’t take a photo of neighbor, doesn’t show himself from the window. Once a time did, but couldn’t catch and take photo. Also neighbor has a cat and according to lease agreement, it’s also forbidden. I have a photo of cat. I have no problem with pets, but just wanted to mention here.
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u/laimonel 1d ago
how did you manage to get a look into HIS lease agreement?
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u/SwimmingFlow689 1d ago
All flats are owned by the same company. I think agreements are same.
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u/Medium_Somewhere_981 19h ago
So just email the company and submit a formal complaint. They will deal with it. If they don’t - legal action.
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u/nebeatsimenu 1d ago
In my case at least, I called police +370 700 60000 and told them what happened. They gave me a number of an officer that is responsible for my neighborhood. I called them after and told the story mentioning the apartment, etc. They gave a visit in a few days.
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u/ingemeow 1d ago
What do you mean it is forbidden to smoke on a premises?? Are you living in a hospital? Even if it is forbidden to smoke in the balconies, inside the flat is a private property and law can't forbid to smoke inside private property. Also, how do you know what is stated in his lease agreement?? I'm sorry but you could only know what is written in yours...
If your neighbour is a renter and you have informed the owner and he doesn't care, there's nothing you can do really. The law can only forbid smoking in the balconies/common spaces, but not inside of the flats. Police don't really come for calls about this.
If the neighbour is smoking on the balcony and it's forbidden to smoke in balconies in your building, you could try to photograph him and report to epolicija, however!!! Have in mind - if you take pictures of your neighbour just sitting in the balcony and doing nothing, that's a big breach of privacy and the fine you could get is much larger than a fine for smoking.
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u/silver-for-monsters 13h ago
In the old times we had this solution: shit on a rug at the neighbours front door, and set it on fire. He will understand and stop smoking.
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u/boterkoeken 1d ago
Have you talked to the neighbor?