When you rent a home, you rent it with the expectation that you are renting a safe, clean place to live. By law, your landlord is required to remove any safety hazards that arise on his or her property. If he or she fails to remove a hazard, he or she may be liable for any damages that victims suffer in accidents related to that hazard. This principle is known as premises liability.
Premises Liability in Rental Properties
Landlords have the following responsibilities:
- Ensure that buildings are clean and free of safety hazards in common areas as well as individual apartments;
- Regularly provide maintenance services to their buildings, such as snow removal and security measures;
- Landlords must provide adequate heat and lighting to tenants;
- Landlords must ensure that all units have clean hot and cold water; and
- Paint occupied apartments in multiple dwellings every three years.
A few examples of hazards that could be prevented with consistent landlord maintenance include:
- Broken steps and handrails that can cause trips and falls;
- Frayed wires that pose fire and electrocution hazards;
- Failure to remove ice, snow, and fallen leaf accumulation from outdoor areas;
- Broken windows that compromise a building’s security and pose injury hazards to tenants;
- Burst pipes, which can cause flooding;
- Lead paint and asbestos that is not properly sealed, posing an exposure risk to tenants;
- Failing to notify tenants of lead paint hazards; and
- Poor lighting on a property, which can lead to trips, slips, and falls.
Who is at Fault for an Injury or Death in a Rental Property?
When an injury or death occurs as the result of an accident caused by one of the hazards described above, the property’s owner or manager may be considered negligent and thus liable for the victim’s damages.
Seeking compensation through a personal injury or wrongful death claim requires the use of evidence to show how the negligent party failed to uphold his or her duty of care to the victim. For example, photographs of a broken staircase and testimonies from a building’s other tenants about the condition of the staircase when an accident occurred may be used to support a fall claim. The victim’s medical record and a copy of his or her lease are also important pieces of evidence to demonstrate that the victim suffered a specific injury and that he or she was a tenant of the building when the accident occurred.
Work with an Experienced New York Landlord Negligence Lawyer
If you have suffered an injury because your landlord failed to provide the level of care that he or she was required by law to provide you, you may seek compensation for your damages through a personal injury claim. If you lost a loved one to hazardous conditions in a rented house or apartment, you may seek compensation for the damages related to the death through a wrongful death claim. To learn more about landlord negligence and your rights as an affected party, call the Law Office of Jeffrey K. Kestenbaum today at 718-237-5586 to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
