Question:
Does anyone know if such a thing as a *cigarette* smoke detector is manufactured and sold? A friend I know is thinking of an investment property he wants to lease as ABSOLUTELY non-cigarette-smoke-friendly. He's at a loss how he could end a tenant's lease if there's no way of legally entering and proving cigarette smoking is going on in a building in our state (PA).

Answer: Why he want's so dearly to dictate a rent-paying tenant's private activities is a mystery to me, but then, I'm not a liberal. Anyway, the cheapest and most legally solid thing he can do is demand the highest security deposit the law or local economy allows, and stipulate a non-smoking clause in the lease. This way, he can gouge them on the cleaning and possibly carpet replacement. Your state probably allows a walk-through by the owner prior to the tenant moving out or receiving his deposit, and if so, smoking will be evident. Of course, the tenant can always claim he went outside to smoke, and the smoke somehow wafted into the building. He can also claim the smell was there before. There's no real defense to these, so if your friend truly doesn't want folks smoking in the building, he should buy the property, install huge concrete blocks over all the doors and windows, and dig a mote around the property with some alligators floating around. He won't get much rent, but he won't have to worry about those filthy, nasty smokers.