When is a landlord liable for an injury to a tenant or visitor to the rental property?
To be held responsible for an injury on the premises, the landlord or property manager must have been negligent in maintaining the property, and that negligence must have caused the injury. All of the following must be proven for a landlord to be held liable: • It was the landlord’s responsibility to maintain the portion of premises that caused the accident. • The landlord failed to take reasonable steps to avert the accident. • Fixing the problem (or at least giving adequate warnings) would not have been unreasonably expensive or difficult. • A serious injury was the probable consequence of not fixing the problem (the accident was foreseeable). • The landlord’s failure — his negligence — caused the tenant’s accident. • The tenant was genuinely hurt. For example, if a tenant falls and breaks his ankle on a broken front door step, the landlord will be liable if the tenant can show all of the following: • It was the landlord’s responsibility to maintain the steps (this would usually be
