A no smoking clause in a lease agreement is a contractual term that prohibits a commercial tenant, its staff, and its invitees from smoking or vaping in or around the leased premises. In Ontario, a well-drafted clause goes further than the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 already does: it names the prohibited substances (tobacco and cannabis), captures vaping, defines the affected areas, assigns signage duties, and sets out the landlord's remedies for breach.
Many landlords assume the statute does the work for them. It does not. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 already bans smoking and vaping tobacco and cannabis in enclosed workplaces and enclosed public places, but it is a public-health law enforced by inspectors, not a private right the landlord can sue on. If a landlord wants the power to issue a default notice, recover cleaning and remediation costs, or terminate a lease over smoking, that power has to come from the lease itself. This guide explains how Ontario commercial landlords draft and enforce a smoke-free clause, what it should cover, where tenants push back, and what remedies actually work when someone lights up.
Why the Smoke-Free Ontario Act Is Not Enough on Its Own
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 prohibits smoking and vaping in any enclosed workplace and any enclosed public place in Ontario. "Smoking" under the Act covers holding lighted or heated tobacco or cannabis, medical or recreational, and "vaping" covers using an electronic cigarette whether or not the vapour contains nicotine. The ban applies even when the workplace is closed and no one is working. Proprietors and employers also have statutory duties: they must post the prescribed no-smoking and no-vaping signage, remove ashtrays from indoor workplaces, and ensure that people who refuse to comply are asked to leave.
So why does a landlord still need a private clause? Because the Act gives enforcement to provincial and local public-health inspectors, not to the landlord as a contracting party. A landlord cannot rely on the statute to terminate a lease, charge a defaulting tenant for smoke remediation, or claim damages for a tenant who repeatedly violates the rules. Those are private remedies, and they live in the lease.
A no smoking clause in a lease agreement also reaches places the Act may not. The statute targets enclosed workplaces and enclosed public places. A landlord who wants a fully smoke-free site usually wants more: no smoking on the patio, in the parking lot, at the loading dock, near building entrances, or anywhere on the common areas. A private clause can prohibit smoking across the entire property, well beyond the statutory minimum, so long as the prohibition is clearly drafted and agreed. The clause and the statute work together: the Act sets the floor, the lease builds above it.
What a Well-Drafted No Smoking Clause Should Cover
A smoke-free clause that simply says "no smoking is permitted" invites disputes. A careful Ontario commercial lease clause addresses each of the following.
Prohibited Substances: Tobacco and Cannabis
The clause should name what is prohibited rather than leaving it to inference. At a minimum it should cover the smoking of tobacco and the smoking of cannabis, both recreational and medical. Cannabis became legal for adult recreational use across Canada under the federal Cannabis Act in 2018, which means a tenant or its staff may lawfully possess cannabis yet still be prohibited from smoking it on the premises by the lease. Naming cannabis expressly avoids the argument that a generic "no smoking" rule was only ever meant to catch cigarettes. Many landlords also extend the clause to the burning of incense, candles, or other open flames where odour, smoke damage, or fire risk is a concern.
Vaping and Heated Products
Vaping deserves its own mention. Electronic cigarettes and vaporizers do not produce conventional smoke, so a tenant may argue that a "no smoking" clause does not reach them. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 treats vaping as a separate, expressly regulated activity, and a lease clause should do the same. Reference vaping, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco or cannabis products directly so there is no gap to exploit.
Common Areas Versus the Demised Premises
The clause should make clear where the prohibition applies. Inside a multi-tenant building, the landlord controls the common areas (lobbies, corridors, washrooms, elevators, shared patios, parking, and grounds), while the tenant controls its own demised premises. A complete clause prohibits smoking both inside the tenant's premises and across the common areas, and it should bind the tenant's employees, customers, contractors, and other invitees, not just the tenant itself. Without that reach, a landlord is left arguing about whether a customer who smoked outside the front door was the tenant's responsibility.
Signage Obligations
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 requires the prescribed no-smoking and no-vaping signs to be posted at entrances, exits, and in other conspicuous, unobstructed locations under the supporting regulation. A lease clause should allocate that duty. In a single-tenant building the tenant is usually made responsible for posting and maintaining compliant signage inside its premises; in a multi-tenant building the landlord typically handles common-area signage and the tenant handles its own space. Spelling this out prevents a compliance gap where each side assumes the other posted the signs.
Indemnity for Smoke Damage
Smoke and cannabis odour penetrate drywall, ceiling tiles, carpet, and HVAC systems, and the cost of removing them, repainting, sealing, replacing materials, and ozone-treating the air can be significant. A strong clause includes an indemnity requiring the tenant to reimburse the landlord for the cost of repairing smoke or odour damage and for any remediation needed to return the premises to a smoke-free condition, whether the smoking was done by the tenant, its staff, or its invitees. This is often paired with the lease's general repair and surrender obligations so the tenant cannot hand back odour-damaged space at the end of the term.
Remedies for Breach
Finally, the clause should tie smoking into the lease's default and remedies machinery. It should state that a breach of the smoke-free covenant is a default under the lease, triggering the landlord's right to give notice, require the tenant to cure, recover costs, and, for a persistent or serious breach, pursue termination. A clause that prohibits smoking but says nothing about consequences gives the landlord a rule with no teeth.
Tobacco, Cannabis, and Vaping: Why the Distinctions Matter
Treating "smoking" as one undifferentiated thing is the most common drafting mistake. The three categories behave differently and a clause should account for each.
Tobacco smoking is the traditional target and the easiest to capture, but even here a generic clause can be undercut if it does not also address outdoor areas and invitees. Cannabis smoking raises the added wrinkle that the substance is federally legal, so the prohibition rests entirely on the contract and the property, not on illegality. A landlord cannot assume "it is just understood." It has to be written. Cannabis smoke also tends to generate stronger odour complaints from neighbouring tenants, which makes the indemnity and the common-area reach especially important. Vaping, finally, is the category tenants most often argue falls outside a smoking clause, precisely because there is no combustion. Naming it removes the argument.
A landlord who is also concerned about cannabis cultivation, processing, or sale on the premises, as opposed to simple smoking, should treat that as a separate permitted-use and compliance question rather than folding it into the smoke-free clause. Ontario has moved to make commercial landlords liable for knowingly permitting certain illegal drug activity on leased premises, which is a distinct risk addressed in our note on Ontario commercial landlord drug liability. The smoke-free clause governs lawful smoking and vaping; the use and compliance clauses govern what the tenant is allowed to do with the space.
Tenant Pushback and How Landlords Respond
Tenants do negotiate these clauses, and reasonable pushback is common.
A frequent objection concerns medical cannabis. A tenant whose employee uses medical cannabis may raise human-rights and accommodation concerns. The practical answer is usually about method and location rather than prohibition: a smoke-free clause restricts smoking and vaping in and around the premises, but it does not prohibit other forms of consumption such as edibles or oils, and an employer can manage accommodation through its own workplace policies and designated areas off-site. Landlords generally hold the line on no smoking indoors, because the statute already requires it, while staying open to reasonable arrangements that do not involve smoke in the building.
A second objection is scope. Tenants of restaurants, bars, lounges, or cigar-and-vape retailers may need carefully limited carve-outs, and any such carve-out has to be checked against the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 because the statute permits very few exceptions. A tenant operating a patio will want clarity on where its customers can and cannot smoke. The cleanest approach is to define the smoking and non-smoking zones in the lease rather than leaving them to a sign on the day.
A third objection is liability for invitees. A tenant may resist being made responsible for what its customers do outside the front door. Landlords typically respond that the tenant is best placed to control its own patrons and that the indemnity is limited to breaches connected to the tenant's premises and business. A negotiated middle ground often ties the tenant's responsibility to areas it controls or routinely uses, while the landlord polices the broader common areas.
Enforcing a Breach: Notice, Cure, and Termination
When a tenant or its people smoke in breach of the lease, enforcement follows the lease's default process, backed by the Commercial Tenancies Act, RSO 1990, c L.7.
The first step is almost always a written default notice. A well-drafted lease will require the landlord to notify the tenant of the breach and give it a period to cure, meaning to stop the smoking and, where applicable, remediate any damage. For a one-off incident, a notice that secures compliance is often the end of the matter. Keeping a clear record of complaints, photographs, and dates matters, because enforcement that escalates will turn on proof.
If the breach continues or recurs, the landlord moves toward the lease's stronger remedies: recovering remediation and cleaning costs under the indemnity, claiming damages, and, for a persistent or serious breach, terminating the lease and re-entering. Termination for breach is forfeiture, and forfeiture in Ontario carries procedural risk: a tenant can apply to the court for relief against forfeiture under the Commercial Tenancies Act, and relief is discretionary. A landlord who terminates over a single minor smoking incident, without notice or a chance to cure, is far more exposed to a relief application than one who documented repeated breaches, gave proper notice, and acted proportionately. The remedy has to fit the breach.
Because smoking interacts with the lease's repair, indemnity, surrender, and default clauses all at once, enforcement is rarely as simple as pointing at the no-smoking rule. The strength of the landlord's position is built at the drafting stage and proven through the paper trail. This is one of several reasons careful drafting of the underlying commercial lease covenants pays off long before any dispute arises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Smoke-Free Ontario Act mean I do not need a no smoking clause in my commercial lease?
No. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 already bans smoking and vaping tobacco and cannabis in enclosed workplaces and public places, but it is enforced by public-health inspectors, not by the landlord. To gain the right to issue a default notice, recover remediation costs, or terminate a lease over smoking, a landlord needs a private no smoking clause in the lease agreement. The Act sets the floor; the clause builds the landlord's contractual remedies on top of it.
Can a commercial lease prohibit cannabis smoking even though cannabis is legal in Canada?
Yes. Cannabis is legal for adult use under the federal Cannabis Act, but legality of the substance does not give a tenant a right to smoke it on leased premises. A landlord can prohibit cannabis smoking and vaping through the lease, the same way it prohibits tobacco. Because cannabis is lawful, the prohibition rests entirely on the contract, so the clause should name cannabis expressly rather than relying on a generic "no smoking" rule.
Does a no smoking clause cover vaping and e-cigarettes?
Only if it says so. Vaping produces no combustion, so a tenant may argue a clause aimed at "smoking" does not reach electronic cigarettes or vaporizers. The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 treats vaping as a separately regulated activity, and a lease clause should follow suit by referencing vaping, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco or cannabis products directly. Naming them closes the gap.
Who is responsible for posting no-smoking signs under an Ontario commercial lease?
The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 and its supporting regulation require prescribed no-smoking and no-vaping signs at entrances, exits, and other conspicuous locations. The lease should allocate the duty. In a single-tenant building the tenant usually posts and maintains signage in its premises; in a multi-tenant building the landlord typically handles common areas while each tenant handles its own space. Spelling this out in the clause prevents a compliance gap.
What remedies does a landlord have if a tenant smokes in breach of the lease?
The lease should make a smoking breach a default, which triggers the landlord's right to give written notice, require the tenant to cure, recover cleaning and remediation costs under the indemnity, claim damages, and, for a serious or repeated breach, terminate and re-enter. Termination is forfeiture, and a tenant may seek relief against forfeiture under the Commercial Tenancies Act, so landlords should give notice, allow a cure period where the lease requires it, and keep records before escalating.
Can a no smoking clause make the tenant pay for smoke and odour damage?
Yes, if the clause includes an indemnity. Smoke and cannabis odour penetrate drywall, ceiling tiles, carpet, and HVAC systems, and remediation can be costly. A well-drafted clause requires the tenant to reimburse the landlord for repairing smoke or odour damage caused by the tenant, its staff, or its invitees, and to return the premises to a smoke-free condition. Pairing the indemnity with the repair and surrender obligations stops a tenant from handing back odour-damaged space at the end of the term.
Sources & Official Resources
Ontario Statutes and Government Guidance
- Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017, SO 2017, c 26, Sch 3 (Full Text)
- Government of Ontario: Where You Cannot Smoke or Vape in Ontario
- Commercial Tenancies Act, RSO 1990, c L.7 (Full Text)
Federal Law 4. Cannabis Act, SC 2018, c 16 (Full Text)
City of Toronto Guidance 5. City of Toronto: Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017
Contact Hadri Law
Whether you are a landlord building a smoke-free commercial property or a tenant negotiating the smoking and vaping covenants in your lease, the wording does the work. A clause that names the prohibited substances, reaches vaping and the common areas, assigns signage duties, includes an indemnity for smoke damage, and ties cleanly into the lease's default and remedies provisions is what lets a landlord act, and what lets a tenant know exactly where it stands. Our work on commercial leases and across commercial law covers exactly these terms.
Hadri Law's commercial team advises Ontario landlords and business tenants on lease drafting, smoke-free and use covenants, landlord remedies, and lease disputes. Our founder, Nassira El Hadri (Law Society of Ontario, 2021), leads a boutique practice that gives commercial clients direct lawyer attention on the terms that actually carry risk.
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This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading or relying on it does not create a solicitor-client relationship with Hadri Law Professional Corporation.
