Rental and strata lots

If you own a detached home, it’s your castle and you’re free to puff away, but if you own a strata lot or if you are a house or apartment renter, it gets a little more complicated.

Barring any specific rules, you can smoke or vape cannabis in a private residence, but for rentals you need to sign a lease agreement before moving in, and a landlord can draft an agreement that prohibits smoking tobacco or cannabis. You don’t have to sign it, of course, but then you won’t get to live in the place.

For condominiums or other properties that are part of a strata corporation, a resident is subject to the bylaws of that individual strata.

By default in B.C., smoking cannabis is allowed in strata lots, but it’s common for stratas to specifically ban it.

“We have many strata corporations that don't need to do anything [to ban pot smoking], because they've already made their changes and adopted new bylaws,” said Tony Gioventu, executive director of the Condominium Home Owners' Association of British Columbia.

“They can impose fines and penalties. They can go to the tribunal or the courts and they can obtain an order to order somebody to stop violating the bylaws and stop smoking in the units,” Gioventu said, adding that stratas can’t control what is consumed in a suite, only how it’s consumed.