A pipe accidentally bursts in the closet wall of a rented apartment and a tenant’s property suffers major water damage. The tenant thinks the landlord is responsible and that the landlord’s insurance will cover the tenant’s damaged property. In most cases, the tenant is, unfortunately, mistaken. What kind of rules govern the insurance requirements of landlords and tenants?
Landlord
Landlord responsibility for carbon monoxide
The Toledo Blade reports that earlier this week, an Ohio landlord was indicted on charges of reckless homicide in the carbon monoxide deaths of four tenants in the landlord’s rental unit. Allegedly the landlord supplied the tenants with a faulty space heater because the rental unit did not have an operating furnace. The rental unit also supposedly lacked carbon monoxide detectors. Unfortunately, stories like this are all too common. In October, 2010, a New York landlord was sentenced to criminal charges in connection with the carbon monoxide deaths of three tenants resulting from the installation of a gas-powered generator in a rental unit. In many cases, landlords might be criminally or civilly responsible for carbon monoxide related injuries.
The Illinois Landlord’s Responsibility For Dog Bites
You can’t go anywhere in the City of Chicago without seeing a dog. The Chicago Park District lists no fewer than eighteen dog parks in the City of Chicago. Whether or not allow pets, especially dogs, is a question that regularly confronts landlords. On the plus side, allowing pets usually expands a landlord’s pool of available renters making marketing time shorter and less expensive. On one hand, pets can cause lots of damage to rental units, drive away “allergic” tenants, and cause noise problems for neighbors. A landlord also needs to consider what would happen if a pet in the landlord’s building attacked another person. Is a landlord responsible for damage to third parties caused by a tenant’s pet?
What about the Landlord’s Agent?
As I mentioned a few weeks back, the rental world is getting to be “cluttered” with first time landlords. These landlords are born onto the scene, usually, after their real estate sits unsold on the market for six or ten months. Eventually, the property owner decides to enter the world of landlording.
Most of these first time landlords arrive at the decision to become a leasing mogul at the suggestion of their real estate agent. It goes something like this: