If you visit a friend and suffer an injury during the visit, you may need to bring your case to court to seek payment for your related expenses. If you need to do this, you must know who to bring the case against. Your options are your friend, the tenant, or his or her landlord.
According to RentPrep, the deciding factor of who is at fault and holds the liability for your injury is often where your injury occurred, but it may also be linked to the actions of either the landlord or tenant.
Landlord is liable
The landlord is liable if the injury occurred in an area he or she had the responsibility to maintain. For example, common areas and building entryways fall into this category.
In addition, if the landlord had a legal requirement to maintain a certain aspect of the property but failed to do so and it results in your injury, then he or she would be liable. For example, if the landlord had an obligation to fill in a hole in the yard of the rental unit and you twisted your ankle by falling into that hole, then the landlord has liability for your injury.
Tenant is liable
Your friend, the tenant, may be liable if the injury happened in his or her home due to something beyond the control of the landlord. For example, if your friend’s child left a skateboard on the floor and you tripped over it and hurt your ankle, then your friend would be liable. Generally, if the tenant’s actions or inactions lead to the injury, then the tenant is liable for any injuries.