Landlords may be liable for personal injury if they fail to maintain safe common areas such as common stairs, common walkways and hallways, cabanas and clubhouses, pools, and playgrounds.
Residential landlords are obligated to keep rental units safe under the warranty of habitability. The warranty of habitability imposes upon landlords a duty to keep the premises in reasonably safe condition. The warranty of habitability requires the landlord abide by laws and building codes that keep the rental safe; maintain structural components including roofs, floors, walls, chimneys, fireplaces, foundations; keep any shared or common areas reasonably safe from defects increasing the hazards of fire or accident; maintain all electrical, plumbing, heating systems; and equip the rental unit with a smoke detector, among other duties.
Landlords may also be liable if the lease contract requires the landlord to maintain a component of the property, the landlord fails to do so, and this failure results in injury.
Pocket Brief on Landlord Liability for Personal Injury
“The case law is quite confusing in this area.” This is the conclusion of the Washington Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions in the official comments in the Washington Pattern Jury Instructions.[1] Information on this website is never a substitute for legal advice, and in an area of law that is unsettled and evolving it is particularly wise to consult with a lawyer about your circumstances. Nevertheless, you may find this short summary on the law of landlord liability for personal injury informative.
Landlord liability for personal injury may be based on 1) common law, 2) the warranty of habitability, or 3) breach of the rental agreement.
Common law.
A landlord has a duty to use ordinary care to keep common areas (common stairs, common hallways, playgrounds, etc.) in a reasonably safe condition. This duty applies to both residential and commercial rental properties.[2]
A landlord is liable for injury caused by an open and obvious dangerous condition if the landlord should anticipate that the tenant (or a guest of the tenant), will make use of the common area in spite of such open and obvious condition.[3]
The duty to keep common areas safe includes removal of snow and ice.[4]
The warranty of habitability.
There is an implied warranty of habitability in all residential tenancies.[5] Breach of the warranty of habitability can be the basis for liability for personal injury if the condition makes the rental property unsafe.[6]
Breach of statues or building codes is evidence of negligence, but if related to electrical fire safety or the use of smoke alarms is negligence per se (as opposed to mere evidence of negligence).[7]
Breach of the rental agreement.
The landlord may be liable for personal injury based on breach of contract if (a) the landlord has contracted to keep the rental unit in repair; (b) the disrepair creates an unreasonable risk that if the landlord had followed the rental agreement would have been prevented; and (c) the landlord fails to exercise reasonable care in performing the lease contract.[8]
Residential Landlord-Tenant Act.
Breaches of the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act may be a legal basis for landlord liability for injuries to tenants. [9]
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Travis Scott Eller has decades of experience in both personal injury and landlord-tenant law. He has lectured on landlord-tenant law at continuing legal education and industry seminars many times. He had tried landlord-tenant law related cases and successfully argued them in the Court of Appeals.
If you have been injured on a rental property contact our office for a free personal injury case evaluation.
National Institute for Trial Advocacy
206-801-1188
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Continue reading[1] WPI 130.06. While admittedly the comment was directed to a narrower legal point, it applies just as well to the topic of landlord tort liability as a whole.
[2] RCW 59.18.060(3). Cherberg v. Peoples Nat. Bank, 88 Wn.2d 595, 564 P.2d 1137 (1977).
[3] Curtis v. Lein, 169 Wn.2d 884, 239 P.3d 1078 (2010) (regarding a tenant's use of a dock); Tincani v. Inland Empire Zoological Soc'y, 124 Wn.2d 121, 139, 875 P.2d 621 (1994).
[4] Geise v. Lee, 84 Wn.2d 866, 529 P.2d 1054 (1975).
[5] Foisy v. Wyman, 83 Wn.2d 22, 515 P.2d 160 (1973); RCW 59.18.060.
[6] Lian v. Stalick, 115 Wn.App. 590, 62 P.3d 933 (2003).
[7] RCW 5.40.050.
[8] Tucker v. Hayford, 118 Wn.App. 246 at 251, 75 P.3d 980 (Div. 3 2003).
[9] Martini v. Post, 178 Wn.App. 153, 167, 383 P.3d 473 (2013); Tucker v. Hayford, 118 Wn.App. 246, 75 P.3d 980 (2003); Lian v. Stalick, 106 Wn.App. 811, 25 P.3d 467 (2001).