Germany: She has to leave her apartment because the neighbors are bothered by cigarette smoke

A court in the German city of Dusseldorf ruled today that an elderly avid smoker must leave the apartment he has lived in for 40 years, because his neighbors complained that cigarette smoke bothers them.

Friedhelm Adolfs (75) has to leave his apartment in Dusseldorf by the end of the year, according to the court ruling which rejected his appeal against the first-instance verdict, AFP reported.

The ruling states that smoking alone in the apartment is not sufficient grounds for evicting the tenant, but Adolfs is guilty because he did not even try to prevent cigarette smoke from entering the common corridor of the building.

The pensioner did not adequately ventilate the apartment or empty the ashtrays, the court stated, adding that the owner of the building verbally warned Adolfs several times in 2012, but to no avail. He can still file an appeal in federal court, hoping to avoid eviction.

The German media is closely following this case, so Adolfs became the second most popular avid smoker in that country after the 95-year-old former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who is known for lighting one cigarette after another, even during television appearances.