2006 Utah Code - 78-38-1 — Nuisance defined -- Right of action for -- Judgment.

     78-38-1.   Nuisance defined -- Right of action for -- Judgment.
     (1) A nuisance is anything which is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. A nuisance may be the subject of an action.
     (2) A nuisance may include the following:
     (a) drug houses and drug dealing as provided in Section 78-38-9;
     (b) gambling as provided in Title 76, Chapter 10, Part 11;
     (c) criminal activity committed in concert with two or more persons as provided in Section 76-3-203.1;
     (d) party houses which frequently create conditions defined in Subsection (1); and
     (e) prostitution as provided in Title 76, Chapter 10, Part 13.
     (3) A nuisance under this section includes tobacco smoke that drifts into any residential unit a person rents, leases, or owns, from another residential or commercial unit and this smoke:
     (a) drifts in more than once in each of two or more consecutive seven-day periods; and
     (b) creates any of the conditions under Subsection (1).
     (4) Subsection (3) does not apply to:
     (a) residential rental units available for temporary rental, such as for vacations, or available for only 30 or fewer days at a time; or
     (b) hotel or motel rooms.
     (5) Subsection (3) does not apply to any unit that is part of a timeshare project, as defined in Section 57-19-2, or subject to a timeshare interest as defined in Section 57-19-2.
     (6) An action may be brought by any person whose property is injuriously affected, or whose personal enjoyment is lessened by the nuisance.
     (7) Upon judgment, the nuisance may be enjoined or abated, and damages may be recovered.
     (8) There is no cause of action for a nuisance under Subsection (3) if the rental, lease, restrictive covenant, or purchase agreement for the unit states in writing that:
     (a) smoking is allowed in other units, either residential or commercial, and that tobacco smoke from those units may drift into the unit that is subject of the agreement; and
     (b) by his signature the renter, lessee, or buyer acknowledges he has been informed that tobacco smoke may drift into the unit he is renting, leasing, or purchasing, and he waives any right to a cause of action for a nuisance under Subsection (3).
     (9) A cause of action for a nuisance under Subsection (3) may be brought against:
     (a) the individual generating the tobacco smoke;
     (b) the renter or lessee who permits or fails to control the generation of tobacco smoke, in violation of the terms of his rental or lease agreement, on the premises he rents or leases; or
     (c) the landlord, but only if:
     (i) the terms of the renter's or lessee's contract provide the unit will not be subject to the nuisance of drifting tobacco smoke;
     (ii) the complaining renter or lessee has provided to the landlord a statement in writing indicating that tobacco smoke is creating a nuisance in the renter's or lessee's unit; and
     (iii) the landlord knowingly allows the continuation of a nuisance under Subsection (3) after receipt of written notice under Subsection (c)(ii), and in violation of the terms of the rental or lease agreement under Subsection (c)(i).

Amended by Chapter 230, 1997 General Session