Clearly understanding the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is a significant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they agreed to appropriately maintain your Woodward Park rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. But, in fact, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and issues that actually start on the property can rapidly escalate into legal problems for you.
Although it is true that you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, if you are informed that your rental home is being used for unauthorized business activities, your neighbors could potentially hold you completely liable. The outcome of any legal action taken against you will largely rely on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to take care of it. Being proactive in such situations is important to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
From time to time, renters are superb at hiding shady activities from their landlords. Except, if you do perceive this happening on your rental property, it is salient to address the issues immediately. In multiple regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you were really aware of.
To cite an instance, if you knew one of your tenants was using your rental home as a daycare and one of your renters or their clients hurt someone, themselves, or damaged personal property, the court could quite possibly hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
Occasionally, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may crop up. For example, if you have an idea that your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion relative to whether or not that insinuates that you should have assumed they would be conducting that business in the rental home.
In the same vein, if your renter had been evicted for wild parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. By all means, if you’ve done your due diligence and didn’t actually find any evidence of past problems, that will make your chances of avoiding liability better .
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates immediately when you learn about them is always a good idea. Then again, sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to totally fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t undoubtedly broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
To be properly liable, you must have the power to definitely do something for
the issue. Certainly, the flip side is that if your lease clarifies that you don’t allow rambunctious parties or business activities and you don’t take action, you actually might be on the hook in a lawsuit
The specific terms and language used in the lease are a critical first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. At any rate, taking immediate and appropriate action is additionally integral to keeping yourself from being sued by anxious neighbors.
Cautiously and thoroughly screening your renters is another very important way of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is fulfilling regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Platinum, we do all this for our Woodward Park property owners – and more. Would you like to glean more information? Make it a point to get in touch with us online or by phone at 559-425-855
Originally Published on February 8, 2019
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.