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I am in the Los Angeles area, and there are 4 tenants in my house. The last tenant who just moved in yesterday smokes, I told him that he needs to do it at the far end of the yard, and clean up everything. I have discussed this with my other 2 tenants before he moved in they were OK with it, and in my contract, there isn't specifically a part about no smoking.

Now my other 2 tenants complain that even this is not enough, they want to him to either smoke outside of the property or evict him.

I am trying to settle this thru house rule and agreement, but in the worst case, we might have to evict him.

Can I get a joint name letter of all 3 other tenants (includes me), so that if he doesn't stop smoking in the property he will have to move?

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    you say "in my house" any "my other tenants" but what role do you play in this building? are you the owner? the manager? Are all 4 tenants on the same lease or all all 4 on separate leases? what are the smoking rules in the lease?
    – mhoran_psprep
    Oct 7, 2018 at 11:28
  • Is there a fixed-term lease, rather than month-to-month?
    – Acccumulation
    Oct 7, 2018 at 19:44
  • You need a lawyer.
    – Andy
    Oct 7, 2018 at 22:57
  • If it's Santa Monica, it may be statutorily no-smoking. Be more specific.
    – user6726
    Oct 8, 2018 at 17:23

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This likely comes down to contract law (note: I'm not a lawyer; this isn't legal advice).

If his rental contract is not with you, you'll need to refer this to the property owner's representative. I don't see why just sharing the house would give tenants any eviction rights over other tenants.

Even if you are the owner (cf “my house”), it would be unusual for independent tenants to be party to each other’s rental contracts. The other tenants are irrelevant to any eviction attempt, except perhaps as witnesses in court.

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  • The other tenants have substantial rights to not be subjected to health problems. Whether enforcing those rights falls under the name "eviction" I don't know, but the pre-existing tenants suffering from the smoke definitely have the upper hand here.
    – Ben Voigt
    Oct 7, 2018 at 20:23
  • @benvoigt If the lease doesn't prohibit smoking, the existing tenants are SOL. This answer is correct, and generally if the existing tenets have an issue with a new tenet, their only option is to move. But since our sounds like the op lives in the house, he may have more options than a typical landlord.. but it had nothing tti do with how the other tenets feel.
    – Andy
    Oct 7, 2018 at 22:54
  • @Andy: That's total nonsense. It may be that the best option for the existing tenants is to move, but they can sue the pants off the landlord (which sounds like it may be OP) for creating an unsafe environment / health risks. Look up "constructive eviction". And that doesn't even consider that this is in California...
    – Ben Voigt
    Oct 8, 2018 at 1:14
  • @BenVoigt Sue for what exactly? There's no immediate danger from smoking, and they'd have to sue for specific damages. You can't just go to court and give a vague "my health was damaged award me money" claim, you'd have to show specific harm/damages. Even in looney CA. Frankly, the OP is probably more at legal risk trying to retroactively limit what the smoking tenant is allowed to do in his own home as the OP didn't specify in the lease. And since it isn't specified, there probably can be no reasonable assumption that there'd never be a smoker allowed as a tenant. The smoking tenant..
    – Andy
    Oct 8, 2018 at 14:15
  • @BenVoigt ... probably would have a better chance at succeeding with a constructive eviction claim. FYI en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_eviction There's no legal obligation to provide a smoke free place to live, otherwise there'd be no places to rent for smokers.
    – Andy
    Oct 8, 2018 at 14:15
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NOTE: I'm not a lawyer

Can I get a joint name letter of all 3 other tenants (includes me), so that if he doesn't stop smoking in the property he will have to move?

From this line, it sounds like you do not own the property. A joint letter will be absolutely useless. Here's why

and in my contract, there isn't specifically a part about no smoking

Given this he could smoke in the house. He's being a good house-mate by smoking outside in the yard.

I have discussed this with my other 2 tenants before he moved in they were OK with it

And the landlord did the right thing and asked the current tenants about the new tenant. They all said smoking was ok BEFORE the new tenant spent the money and time to move in.

Now my other 2 tenants complain that even this is not enough, they want to him to either smoke outside of the property or evict him.

There is likely no legal way to do this. The problem tenant signed a lease with the landlord - not with the other tenants. Even if this is a co-living situation (or you are the landlord), the house-mates already gave the go-ahead knowing he smokes. Now they want to renege.

Assuming every house-mate signed a lease, they can always choose not to renew when their lease is up. Moving forward, be sure to put language about smoking habits in the lease. Until then, you're likely stuck with the smoker.

About the only thing I could think to do here is have the non-smoking room-mates pool money and essentially bribe the smoker to move. You'll have to live with the guy if he says no - so be sure this is a hill you want to die on.

EDIT

Some comments have questioned if the landlord is legally responsible for ill-health caused by 2nd hand smoke. Especially if he is smoking outside, I doubt this would be a cut-n-dry case, and likely involve hefty legal fees.

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