When Is A Landlord Liable For Injuries To A Tenant?

In a busy and expensive housing market, more and more people are turning to rental properties. Rental properties all will have a landlord, or a leasing company that acts like the landlord. This all begs the question as to whether a landlord can be held liable for injuries that you may suffer while on their property.

Inside the Unit

The first question to ask is whether you were injured inside your unit, or outside the unit.

Inside the unit, there often is no liability for the landlord, but there are situations where something inside the unit is so defective, or has not been maintained or repaired by the landlord, that it causes you injury.

If you are injured inside the unit by something that the landlord or leasing company has the obligation to maintain or repair, then you could hold the landlord liable for your injuries.

Remember though that in some cases, you may have an obligation to keep the inside of your unit safe.

So, for example, if there was a spontaneous electrical fire and you were injured, or toxic gas seeped into your unit, it may be the landlord’s obligation to keep these systems operational and safe. But if the dryer catches fire because you didn’t keep it cleaned, and you were injured, that may be considered to be your fault.

Outside the Unit

Outside your actual unit, on the common areas of the property, the landlord is more likely to have some liability, in the event that you are injured on the rental property grounds. This is particularly true for rental communities, where the rental agency may have control over park areas, gyms, parking lots, pools or other property or amenities inside and a part of the rental community.

The first thing to determine is whether or not the area of the property where you were injured is an area that is owned and controlled by the rental agency or landlord. This is often the case when you are injured on rental property like the community recreation center, pool, or gym, but in other areas, such as sidewalks or grassy areas, there may be questions as to whether the landlord or the city owns the property.

Negligent Security Claims

Many times, tenants are injured by outsiders that come onto the property and commit crimes.

Landlords have a legal duty to keep their property safe from foreseeable acts of crime. There is no set list of what a landlord has to do or what the landlord doesn’t have to do, to keep criminals off the property.

However, some common preventative measures may include things like having working front gates, maintaining the locks on rental unit doors, or having proper lighting throughout the property.

Injured on rental property? Your landlord may be liable. Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 today for help.

Source:

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