Short answer
You can generally smoke inside your own lot, but not in a way that lets smoke drift and cause a nuisance to neighbours. Smoke drift into other lots or common property can breach the Act’s rule against causing a nuisance, and some schemes have by-laws that restrict or prohibit smoking. Whether a particular case is a breach depends on the by-laws and how far the smoke travels.
What you do inside your lot
As a general position, what happens inside your own lot is largely your business, and there’s no blanket ban on smoking in a lot under the Act. The limit is not the smoking itself but its effect on others once it leaves your lot.
Where smoke drift becomes a problem
Strata living carries a duty not to use your lot in a way that causes a nuisance or hazard, or interferes with neighbours’ peaceful enjoyment. Smoke that regularly drifts into adjoining lots or common property can cross that line. Whether it does is a question of degree — occasional, contained smoke is different from persistent drift that a neighbour can’t escape — so it’s assessed on the facts rather than as an automatic breach.
By-laws can go further
A scheme can adopt a by-law dealing specifically with smoking or smoke penetration — some restrict smoking on common property or balconies, and some address drift between lots. What applies to you depends on your scheme’s own by-laws, so those are the first thing to check. As with any by-law, it has to be reasonable to stand.
If smoke drift is the dispute
If drift is affecting you (or a neighbour raises it with you), the usual path is to talk it through, then, if needed, raise it with the committee, who can look at the by-laws and issue a notice to comply for a breach, with NCAT as the final step. In a self-managed scheme run on Straita, the current smoking and nuisance by-laws are easy to check and any complaint is logged, so the committee handles it on the record rather than as a he-said-she-said.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — nuisance, use of lots, and by-laws.
- NSW Government — Smoke drift in strata (Fair Trading) — smoking and smoke drift in apartments.
- NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) — orders for by-law breaches and nuisance.