Your home should be your sanctuary. Unfortunately, there are plenty of landlords who refuse to make necessary repairs, or otherwise neglect their properties. What happens when a tenant is injured as a result of their landlord’s poor workmanship, failure to maintain common areas or not fixing dangerous conditions?
Generally, you cannot sue a landlord for accidents that happen inside your home—unless those accidents are specifically due to negligence on your landlord’s part. Here are some of the ways a landlord can be liable for a tenant’s accident.
Failure to Maintain Common Areas
If you live in an apartment complex or similar living situation, everything outside of your apartment is considered a common area. Those fall upon your landlord to maintain. For example, swimming pools, courtyards, playground equipment, sporting courts, parking lots and walkways must be free of hidden and/or undisclosed hazards.
Imagine slipping and falling on an icy, poorly maintained pathway outside your home. Because it is your landlord’s responsibility to keep the pathways clear and hazard-free, you may be able to file a claim against them.
Poor Workmanship Inside the Home or Apartment
Accidents inside your living space would normally be your responsibility. However, sometimes landlords fail to fix or maintain living spaces inside apartments. Faulty shower doors and railing, damaged flooring, electrical shocks and unstable balconies are just a few of the areas where a landlord could be responsible for resulting injuries. Even if you were partially at fault, you may still be able to recover compensation for your injuries.
Failure to Fix Dangerous Conditions
Finally, a landlord may fail to fix dangerous conditions. This 1981 Ohio Supreme Court case is a good example: the tenants informed their landlord about the broken stairs in their home. Then they suffered an injury on the stairs.
The landlord said it wasn’t their responsibility to fix the stairs. However, since the tenants had told the landlord about the issue—therefore the landlord knew about a dangerous condition and refused to fix it—the Supreme Court ruled that the landlord was indeed responsible.
Proving Landlord Negligence
To prove your landlord is negligent, your attorney must show that they had a duty to maintain the area, they failed in that duty and as a result, you were injured. Working with a seasoned personal injury lawyer is the best way to ensure you’ll be compensated for your injuries.
Discuss Your Premises Liability Case with an Ohio Personal Injury Lawyer Today
When you’ve been harmed due to your landlord’s negligence, I’ll Make Them Pay!® You may be able to recover damages for your medical bills, lost wages and other costs. Call me today at 877.944.4373 for a consultation.
