22 April, 2021
Slip and fall accident cases are fairly straightforward, in that the property owner is usually the party held at-fault for the accident. This scenario is simplified by the fact that the person who owns the property is the same person who manages the property. However, things become a bit more complex once you lease the property because this alters a few important things that need to be clarified in order to identify whose liability it is when an accident occurs in a rental property.
Ownership in a Lease
A common misconception over a lease is that when a property is leased to a tenant, the possession of the property is ceded over to the tenant, thus making the tenant the new owner of the property, along with any liabilities tied to the property. This is erroneous because ownership and possession are two different facets of the law. While it’s true that the lessee is in possession of the property, the ownership of the property is retained by the lessor. There is a distinction between possession and ownership, that you do not have to possess a property in order to enjoy full rights of ownership over it.
The Bundle of Rights Theory
There are six rights that are inherent to property ownership:
- Jus utendi – the right to use
- Jus abutendi – the right to abuse
- Jus fruendi – the right to the fruits (money and goods earned from the property)
- Jus disponendi – the right to dispose (to sell, donate, bequeath)
- Jus possidendi – the right to possess (to retain property and/or ownership)
- Jus vindicandi – the right to recover (to reclaim lost property and/or ownership)
In a lease, the lessee enjoys only the rights to use and the right to possess (the rental property). This means that the lessor will still be liable for accidents that happen on the rental property provided that the following conditions are met:
● That the property owner was aware of the property defect that caused the accident (such as a roof leak).
● That the property owner did not respond in a reasonable manner upon learning of the property’s defect (as is the case when the landlord fails to rectify the leak in a timely manner).
● That the accident took place in a common area of the property (landlords are not liable for accidents that happen in areas that are exclusive to the lessees).
Negligence is the primary basis for determining fault in a slip and fall accident in a rental property. In most cases, staying out of legal trouble is a matter of fulfilling your obligations. This means that landlords should ensure that their property is safe, while tenants should do their part in reporting any property defects they come across.
Should you find yourself in legal trouble, you’d never go wrong with hiring a lawyer to help you with your case. The law is complex in both depth and scope, and you’re going to need to hire professionals like the ones from Glenlake Paralegal, as well as lawyers, to help you build your case to maximize your chances of winning the lawsuit.
