Over the past year, hundreds of you have asked Whistleblower for help. While we can't investigate each tip, we want to share more of what you tell us. In 2009, we started publishing a few tips each week to stimulate online discussion and create ways for our readers to help each other. Unlike our news stories, we have not verified this information. If you have a tip, send it to whistleblower@startribune.com.

A renter in Minneapolis is fed up with breathing secondhand smoke that somehow seeps into many of the building's apartments. There seems to be a problem with proper sealing around plumbing and heating systems, the tenant wrote to Whistleblower, but the management isn't doing anything to fix the problem.

"It is not normal for cigarette smoke, fried food odors, along with shower steam to penetrate into neighboring apartments so quickly and easily," the renter wrote. "There must be structural conditions that result in the excess leaking of air between the units."

Some of the residents think the owner should ban smoking altogether, or at least repair any holes between units. State law prohibits smoking in rental offices, hallways and other common areas. To read more about the Freedom to Breathe regulations, click here.

How far should building owners go to make sure apartments are free of smoke?