Eviction threat for elderly German smoker

An elderly man must vacate his home of about 40 years after a German court upheld complaints by neighbors about his cigarette smoke, according to an Agence France Presse report.

Friedhelm Adolfs, 75, has until the end of the year to clear his flat in the western city of Düsseldorf after his appeal against a previous court decision failed.

The city’s district court said that smoking by a tenant in a flat was not grounds by itself for eviction.

But it said the pensioner had not tried to prevent cigarette smoke from seeping into the communal hallway of the apartment building.

And he had failed adequately to air his flat and empty his ashtrays, it said.

The man could still take his case to the federal court of justice.