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RSS FeedLandlords may have liability for Criminal Acts occuring on their property |
Posted at Great Northeast Queens News by John Maniec
Sep. 2, 2009
Categorized in: Real Estate Legal Issues
This legal update is courtesy of W.Adam Mandelbaum, Esq. whose law firm is located at 62 South Street, Suite 101, Oyster Bay, New York 11771. He can be contacted by calling (516) 624-0240 or emailing him at nylawman@justice.com.
LANDLORD LIABILITY FOR CRIMINAL ACTS OCCURING ON THEIR PREMISES
Landlords in New York, and elsewhere, have potential liability for injuries occuring on their properties due to criminal acts.
Reasonable security measures must be taken, subject to the degree of criminality which has taken place on the premises, and within the surrounding neighborhood.
Landlords can also be responsible to neighbors from criminal activities occuring within the landlord's premises--think crack house or cat house for examples.
More and more landlords are being sued for this type of liability, and intelligent landlords and their advisors should take note.
Liability will more likely be found where the injured party suffers results from criminal activity which took place before on the property. Example: tenant raped in hallway where previous rape occurred on premises, and inadequate building security exists. (Bad locks, weak doors, etc.).
So, the landlord should regularly inspect the rental property, making sure that locks are adequate and functional, that entry doors are sufficiently strong, perhaps adding video surveillance cameras to common areas on the premises. The more measures undertaken, the less likely of a finding of liability.
Frequently, landlords eject tenants who are engaged in illegal activities on the premises, prostitution and drug dealing being the most likely types of actions which would give rise to such evictions.
If a landlord has evicted criminal tenants from his property in the past, he should be even more concerned with "beefing up" building security. There is documentary evidence within his possession--in fact likely created at his insistence, which proves prior criminality.
There is a question of forseeability also. If there have been three prior assaults in the building, a future assault is forseeable. But not necessarily a kidnapping, or an arson, as an example.
A tenant must also prove proximate cause--that but for the landlord's negligent security, the injury would not have happened--and that isn't all that easy to do in every case.
BOTTOM LINE: Landlords should regularly inspect properties for security breaches, and take reasonable measures to protect building integrity from unlawful entry--especially where there have been past incidences of crimes on or near the premises.
Are you a landlord or tenant with a question regarding a tenancy? Get answers by calling W. Adam Mandelbaum, Esq. at (516) 624-0240.
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