The North Georgia area is experiencing exponential growth in population. And all these people moving to the area need a place to live. In addition to the already existing number of apartments and rental properties, apartment buildings are being built all across the Atlanta area. Many times people may feel forced or rushed to agree to live in a certain apartment because of either the lack of available apartments or the lack of affordable apartments to choose from. Unfortunately, when a tenant is living in an apartment or complex that has been poorly maintained by the landlord or property owner, there is a high risk of injury to the tenant and their family members. If this happens, the property owner could be held responsible.
A landlord has the duty inspect the rental property. The landlord also has a duty to act with reasonable care to make sure the rented premises are kept in good repair. A landlord’s failure to do so can make them liable for injuries caused as a result. A landlord can also be held liable for injuries caused by defective construction. A landlord of a leased apartment, house or other dwelling place cannot assign this duty to another party. In other words, the landlord itself has the duty to maintain the property, and cannot blame anyone else for its failures to do so.
When people think of premises liability cases or claims against property owners, slip and falls, or trip and falls, usually come to mind. However, with claims involving rental properties, a landlord can be held liable for far more. In some recent cases, landlords and property owners have been held liable for a variety of defective conditions at their property. Some of these include failing to repair the air-conditioning unit in an apartment building, causing the building to overheat to the point where it resulted in the death of an elderly disabled man. Another case involved the property owner’s failure to maintain and repair the balconies of an apartment complex, which caused a balcony to collapse onto a child resulting in severe and lifelong debilitating injuries.
Recently, claims against landlords for negligence have been made beyond just repairing and maintaining the property. Tenants have been able to assert claims against their landlord for dog bite, or animal attack, injuries based on the landlord’s failure to prohibit other tenants to keep vicious dogs on the property. In such cases, the landlord has been held liable for being negligent and failing to screen tenants, or to install proper safety measures on his property to prevent such attacks. A landlord has the duty to inspect and make repairs on the property to keep it safe for its tenants. If a landlord rented the premises to a tenant whom he knew had vicious dogs, and failed to inspect the property, and install or maintain proper gates, the landlord could be held responsible if another tenant was injured by the vicious dogs.
If you or a loved one has been injured on your rental property, talk to an attorney about your rights. The Atlanta premises liability attorneys at the Katz Personal Injury Lawyers represent persons who have been injured as a result of the negligence of landlords and property owners in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia. Call us now to find out if you may be eligible for a claim for damages.