Injury on the Premises-Generally

The traditional rule of landlord liability is that a landlord will be held liable for any activity on his property if the lessor at the time of the lease consented to such activity or knew that it would be carried on, and the lessor knew or had reason to know that it would unavoidably involve such an unreasonable risk, or that special precautions necessary to safety would not be taken.

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 or negligence caused the tenant's accident.
• The tenant was genuinely hurt.

Injuries in Common Areas

If a landlord maintains control over common areas he/she is liable for injuries to a tenant if the injuries could have been prevented in the landlord's exercise of reasonable care.

Definitions of common areas include:

• an area that is not leased by a particular tenant;
• an area that is used by multiple tenants;
• an area that the landlord has maintained control over.

It is not necessary for a landlord to have actual knowledge of the defect in the common area to be held liable for injury. A landlord may be held liable for injuries that are the result of defects that could have been discovered if the landlord had made inspections at reasonable intervals to discover the defect. Please see Landlord/Tenant - Landlord Duties for more information on duty to inspect

Strict Liability

Although landlords will not he held strictly liable for injuries sustained by a tenant there is some uncertainty as to whether landlords that participate in the manufacture or construction of the product that causes injury are liable.

Nuisance

A landlord may be liable under a nuisance theory for interfering with the use of property. A nuisance is generally defined as "anything which is injurious to health or is offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable use and enjoyment of life or property." A tenant must show that:

• he/she had property rights with respect to the premises;
• the interference is substantial;
• the interference is legally caused by intentional and unreasonable or negligent conduct.

A substandard building may be considered a public nuisance per se. A substandard building may be one that violates Health and Safety Codes to the extent that endangers life, limb, health, property, safety or welfare of the public or the occupants thereof.

Interference with Tenant's Right to Property Conversion

A landlord may be liable for conversion of the tenant's personal property. Conversion is the unwanted interference with the plaintiff's property from which injury results. Possible situations that may constitute conversion are:

• a landlord taking possession and using the personal property rightfully possessed by the tenant (it is not necessary that the tenant own the property only that he/she has possession);
• a landlord's refusal to permit the tenant to remove personal property left on the premises;
• Appropriation of the property for the use of the landlord. If a landlord removes property and places it in storage this may not constitute conversion. Damages for the conversion of personal property include:
• the value of the property;
• fair compensation of the time and money spent attempting to get the property back.

Landlord's Termination of Utility Service and Other Willful Acts

In some jurisdictions landlords are prohibited from terminating utility services. In addition a landlord may be my prohibited from:

• preventing a tenant from gaining access to the property by changing the locks;
• removing outside doors or windows;
• removing the tenant's personal property, furnishings or other items without consent or authorization by law.

Tenant's Privacy and the Landlord's Right to Enter the Dwelling

The landlord may enter the tenant's premises only for specific reasons, during normal business hours and only after the tenant has been given at least 24 hour advance notice of the landlord's intent to enter the dwelling. The only reasons a landlord may enter the dwelling are: n an emergency, to make necessary repairs, to make agreed repairs, to show the rental to prospective tenants, mortgagees or purchasers, when the tenant has abandoned or vacated the premises, and pursuant to court order.

Landlord's Liability to Third Parties

What duties does a landlord owe to guests on the rented premises?

Generally landlord duties to guests are analyzed under the same due care principles that are owed to a tenant. (See Due Care, Duty to Inspect and Common Area discussion in Landlord/Tenant Duties)

In some cases the landlord has a duty to protect invited guests from dangerous animals kept by the tenant. The landlord must have knowledge of the dangerous animal and the landlord must have the right to have the animal removed from the premises. The landlord does not have an affirmative duty to inspect the premises for dangerous animals kept by the tenant.

Landlords are not liable for injuries inflicted by tenants unless it was reasonably foreseeable that the injury would occur.

Tenant's Liability to the Landlord and Third Parties

Generally a tenant is liable to the landlord for damages caused to the property by negligent acts. A tenant's liability to third parties is covered by principles of foreseeability. In other words if the injury was foreseeable it is likely that the tenant is liable for the resulting damages or injury. The tenant's liability is attenuated by the ability to eliminate risk and the degree of certainty that the plaintiff suffered actual injury.