Most of the time, when people think of personal injury law, landlords or tenant law is probably not what comes to mind. There are ways that landlords are liable for their properties, and you may have a personal injury claim on your hands if the negligence of a particular landlord has caused you to come to harm.
Understanding Landlords and their Properties
There are great landlords out there to be sure. They’re the types of landlords that show up to fix things, who inspect their properties if something seems to have fallen out of repair and they keep up with you about the state of their property. Then there are the slumlords, and they sometimes end up causing their tenants real harm.
Landlords do have responsibility when their tenants come to harm, in some cases. A woman in New York City, for example, sued her landlord because she was the victim of a home invasion and an assault after her landlord had failed to repair a faulty lock. The landlord had been told about the problem several times but had failed to act.
If your landlord has shirked their responsibilities to you and you have come to harm, consider speaking with a personal injury attorney.
Corporate Landlords
In large cities like Houston, some corporate landlords may be negligent in their responsibilities. They may own properties all of the city, state or nation and not really take care of any of them. These are the slum lords of the world and unfortunately, it can pay very well. They fail to take care of structural and health hazards in the buildings, and don’t maintain the premises and fail to take care of pest problems. There are health standards that they have to maintain and, when they do not, it’s not rare for someone to be very seriously hurt as a result of their negligence.
Getting Help
Corporate landlords can be very hard to get ahold of, even if they’re located in the same city. Landlords who are just negligent but who don’t work for a corporation can be even worse sometimes. There are many techniques that a lawyer can use to get hold of them.
If you’ve been injured due to a negligent landlord, make sure you speak to an attorney. If they’re a corporate landlord, the attorney will still be able to handle them. Increasingly, people are getting tired of slum lords ruining their cities. City councils, law enforcement, fire departments and, especially, tenants have a lot to gain from holding these people and companies responsible for what they do. A good personal injury lawyer can help you do that.
If you were injured, the attorney will meet with you and try to determine if they can help you out. If they cannot, there’s no obligation. It’s a good idea to ask, however. For most people, the rent they pay is among their highest bills and, unfortunately, it sometimes goes to landlords who don’t maintain the property that everyday people often call home.