Appropriately understanding the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is a relevant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they agreed to properly maintain your Laurel rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. However, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and conflicts that are started on the property can escalate right away into legal problems for you.
Though, indeed, you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, if you actually know that your rental home is being used for unauthorized business activities, your neighbors could potentially hold you liable. The outcome of any legal action taken against you may count on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to properly deal with it. Being proactive in such situations is essential to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
Now and then renters are experts at hiding shady activities from their landlords. At any rate, if you do know what is happening on your rental property, it is principal to address the issues immediately. In some regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you actually were aware of.
By way of example, if you knew one of your tenants was using your rental home as a daycare and one of your renters or their clients hurt someone, themselves, or damaged personal property, the court could, in all probability, hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
In some situations, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may come up. By way of example, if you really are aware your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion toward whether or not that suggests that you should have assumed they would be conducting that business in the rental home.
Likewise, if your renter had been evicted for boisterous parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. Without a doubt, if you’ve put in your due diligence and didn’t discover any evidence of past problems, that will heighten your chances of avoiding liability.
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates instantly when you learn about them is always a good idea. Except sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to closely fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t completely broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
To be totally liable, you must have the power to certainly do something with respect to the issue. Needless to say, the flip side is that if your lease clarifies that you don’t allow wild parties or business activities and you don’t take action, you could certainly be on the hook in a lawsuit
The specific terms and language used in the lease are a weighty first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. Along with that, taking immediate and appropriate action is, in addition, primal to keeping yourself from being sued by bothered neighbors.
Surely and thoroughly screening your renters is another really important part of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is carrying out regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Metro, we do all this for our Laurel property owners – and more. Would you like to ascertain more? Remember to get in touch with us online or by phone at 410-290-3285 for more helpful information.
Originally Published on February 8, 2019
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
