A Queensland regulator has banned a Surfers Paradise woman from smoking on her apartment balcony after a neighbour’s complaint, declaring it to be a “hazard” rather than a “nuisance”, in a move that could allow bodies corporate to outlaw smoking completely.

Strata bodies have tried to ban smoking on balconies to protect other residents and people below, but the decision made public last week gave them greater control over what people could and could not do in their apartments, to the extent that it puts property values at risk, strata lawyer Frank Higginson said.