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A Chicago landlord can be sued for negligence for tenant injuries

On Behalf of | Apr 20, 2018 | Firm News, personal injury

When landlords rent out their properties to tenants, they’re essentially providing them with an unwritten assurance that their property is both safe and secure. It’s because of this that, if you, as a tenant, are injured on the landlord’s premises, then you may be eligible to file a lawsuit for damages for any pain or suffering you endure.

A landlord is responsible for consistently checking his or her property to ensure that it’s safe. They’re also responsible for remedying any potentially dangerous situations within a reasonable amount of time after the hazard is reported to them. If this doesn’t occur and a tenant is injured, then the landlord can be held liable for paying medical costs, lost wages and other damages related to the injury that results.

Landlords are most often sued for negligence because a tenant is injured after they failed to fix a dangerous situations within a reasonable amount of time or carelessly did so. They’re also sued when it’s clear that they were aware of a potentially hazardous situation, yet failed to warn the tenant of it. In many cases of this sort, the landlords’ actions are later shown to have violated existing safety laws.

Other instances in which landlords may be sued for negligence is if they fail to enforce their own policies, such as those having to do with keeping pets. If another tenant’s dog bites you in the building’s hallway, for example, then you may be eligible to file a lawsuit against both its owner and your landlord for damages.

The same logic applies in a situation in which you’re criminally assaulted by someone else. If your landlord didn’t take necessary precautions to properly light the exterior of the building or didn’t trim the hedges back to prevent someone from hiding in them, then he or she could be sued for negligence.

Landlords that didn’t change locks between tenants or monitor the property with security cameras may be seen as not having taken the necessary precautions to protect residents as well.

If you’ve been injured in or around your apartment building due to someone else’s negligence, then a Chicago personal injury attorney can advise you of your rights to file a personal injury lawsuit in your case.

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