Injured Due to Landlord’s Negligence When You’re Renting a Property?

When you rent a property, it’s the landlord’s responsibility to maintain safe premises. Property owners who don’t take proper steps to prevent foreseeable harm caused by their premises are legally negligent. If that negligence causes you to be injured, you may have a strong legal claim for damages.

Property Owners and Duty of Care

Landlords and property managers owe a duty of care to their tenants and visitors. This means the law requires property owners to prevent foreseeable harm caused by their property. Property owners must maintain their premises in such a way that tenants and visitors are safe from hazardous conditions.

Unsafe conditions caused by property owner negligence can include:

• Missing handrails
• Broken or missing steps or stairs
• Uneven flooring
• Uneven pavement outdoors and in the parking area
• Toxic mold growth
• Hazards caused by pest infestations
• Water on the floor from broken appliances or leaking roofs

Key to a premises liability claim is that the harm caused by poor maintenance was foreseeable. For instance, if you fall because of an earthquake, that is not foreseeable harm because the property owner could not have predicted or prevented your injury.

If you fall down the stairs because there was no handrail, that is foreseeable harm. Any reasonable person knows there should be a secure handrail for people to hold onto when using the stairs.

These are just some examples. If you’re a renter, and you think your landlord’s poor property maintenance caused your injuries, the law may be able to help. It’d be wise to discuss your case with an experienced personal injury lawyer to see if you can collect damages for your injuries.