Michigan Attorney General Opinion

In 1992, the Michigan Attorney General issued a legal opinion about the legality of instituting smoke-free policies in apartment buildings.

Key factors you need to be aware of include:

	Neither state nor federal law prohibits a privately owned apartment complex from renting only to non-smokers or, in the alternative, restricting smokers to certain buildings within an apartment complex.
	Michigan and federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination in real estate transactions, but this does not extend to whether an individual is a smoker or not; that is, having a smoke-free apartment policy is not a form of discrimination.

Download the entire opinion from the Michigan Attorney General.

Also, find out more about the opinion of the Detroit field office of HUD on the legality of smoke-free apartments.

Download an analysis of the authority of Housing Authorities and Section 8 multiunit housing owners to adopt smoke-free policies in their residential units.