Understanding the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is, indeed, a significant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they agreed to fundamentally maintain your Chelsea rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. However, in truth, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and complexities or problems that get initiated on the property can instantly escalate into legal problems for you.
Conceding that you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, but if you ascertain that your rental home is being used for unauthorized business activities, your neighbors could potentially hold you answerable. The outcome of any legal action taken against you will, predominantly, be conditional on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to properly manage it. Being proactive in such situations is highly critical to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
Now and again, renters are too good at hiding shady activities from their landlords. Except, if you do ascertain anything that’s happening on your rental property, it is critical to address the issues immediately. In majority of regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you were positively 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 quite possibly hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
Not often, but in a few cases, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may arise. Example, if you realize your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion with respect to whether or not that denotes that you should have likewise assumed they would be conducting that business in the rental home.
Furthermore, if your renter had been evicted for active, wild parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. Clearly, if you’ve fulfilled due diligence and didn’t glean any evidence of past problems, that will truly increase your chances of avoiding liability.
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates as soon as you ascertain about them is always a good idea. Nevertheless, sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to conscientiously fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t definitely broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
To be truly liable, you must have the power to undoubtedly do something in relation to the issue. Most certainly, the flip side is that if your lease clarifies that you don’t allow flashy parties or business activities and you don’t take action, you might then be on the hook in a lawsuit
The specific terms and language used in the lease are a primal first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. Besides that, taking immediate and appropriate action is also really important to keep yourself from being sued by dismayed neighbors.
Attentively screening your renters is another principal part of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is implementing regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Victory, we do all this for our Chelsea property owners – and more. Would you like to discover more? You are welcome to get in touch with us online or by phone at 205-793-0700 for more detailed information.
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.