Apartment Complexes and Their Duty to Protect Tenants

Apartment Landowner Liability

Here are some of the more important aspects of landlord liability that tenants should be aware of:

• If a landlord is aware of dangerous conditions on their apartment property and fails to notify their tenants, a court may hold the landlord liable if someone is injured. This includes everything from a broken stair to a dangerous dog that belongs to one tenant or a string of recent robberies or assaults.

• A court will generally not hold a landlord liable if a tenant creates a dangerous condition themselves and fails to report it to the landlord.

• Landlords have a duty to inspect apartment complexes to ensure that they are reasonably safe from dangerous conditions. This includes safety concerns such as inadequate or broken lighting, as well as security issues like gaps in fences or a lack of child safety precautions surrounding an apartment pool.

• A key, general legal standard for landlord liability is that the landlord must have known, not merely should have known, about the hazardous conditions. This standard asks: how foreseeable was the accident or crime? If something has occurred for the first time, a court is unlikely to conclude that a landlord could have foreseen it.

• Another standard that courts use to determine landlord liability is to consider how much it would have cost the landlord to take preventive measures. For example, if an apartment complex is located in a high-crime area, courts might expect landlords to take basic, non-costly measures, such as installing building and room locks and ensuring they function properly.

If you have been injured, contact Mike Love & Associates, LLC, for a complimentary consultation. An East Texas injury lawyer will discuss your options with you if a landlord’s negligence caused you injury in your apartment complex.