Tenant Safety

A landlord has a legal responsibility to take reasonable care to protect tenants from foreseeable harm. The landlord’s duty of care extends to protect tenants from third party criminal acts and correspondingly to protect the neighborhood from criminal acts of his tenants.

The best way to protect tenants, property and neighbors is to prevent criminal activities in the first place. Accordingly, good management practices, prompt response to tenant security concerns and complaints, regular property inspections, timely response to maintenance and repair issues, installation and maintenance of required safety and security devices, and tenant education on crime prevention and handling of emergency situations will help to protect tenants’ safety and reduce landlord liability for known risks.

Property assessment and evaluation of risks

As a first step in tenant protection, a landlord must assess his property’s safety and security vulnerabilities. A physical inspection of the property and grounds can point to areas or issues that require additional or upgraded safety and security measures. A landlord cannot guarantee tenant safety, but with adequate due diligence efforts can help secure a property to protect tenants from known risks. This duty of care is a critical part of business operations for risk management and risk prevention.

A landlord’s property security assessment and evaluation will determine what security measures are needed to effectively protect the property. Basic security measures for all types of properties include:

  • Exterior lighting at entrances and walkways
  • Interior lighting at stairwells, hallways, doorways, garage or parking entrances
  • Locks including dead-bolt locks for entry doors, window locks, patio door locks
  • Landscaping that does not block or obscure doorways or windows

The type of property, the location of the property, and the security measures as required by state statutes, local ordinances, or building safety codes may also determine what must be provided for adequate protections.

Management practices

A landlord’s due diligence responsibility for tenant safety underlies his rental policies and practices. Tenant screening and selection policies and practices qualify applicants to rental standards, including behavioral risks. There is no absolute standard of screening that can guarantee a quality tenant, but adequately thorough background checking of credit history, rental history, criminal conviction history, public records, and landlord references can help control business risks and protect current residents from harm. Installing a tenant without screening is a risky business practice and could potentially harm others.

Duty of care due diligence requires a landlord to proactively monitor activity on his rental property for signs of illegal or nuisance activities. Tenants want and need to depend upon the landlord to enforce rental policies and standards by taking legal action against illegal activities on the rental property. Without enforcement of the rental terms and conditions, tenant safety is compromised.

Additionally a landlord should regularly check with local law enforcement agencies regarding recent criminal activity in the surrounding area of the rental property. Reported criminal activity in the neighborhood may require the landlord to provide tenants and neighbors with adequate warnings so that individuals may take their own appropriate safety precautions. If a landlord should fail in his duty to take reasonable care to protect the safety of tenants and others, a landlord could be held liable for any injuries or losses that may occur as a result of the landlord’s actions or inactions.

A landlord cannot depend upon the fact that because a crime has not yet occurred on his property, there is no criminal activity on the property or in the neighborhood. There is good cause for a landlord to be concerned about criminal activity on the rental property. Physical injuries and property damage can be costly.

Premises liability lawsuits against landlords for injuries suffered by tenants at hands of third party criminals are costly. Monetary awards and settlements in the thousands of dollars could potentially cost a landlord his business. The rental property may become stigmatized as a bad property and as a result suffer higher vacancies, lower rents, tenant defaults, and potentially more criminal activity.

Some states have specific laws regarding the landlord’s responsibility to secure the rental premises. Most states have general safety and security requirements that hold the landlord responsible for clean and safe housing. A landlord must determine what is required by statute, ordinance, or code for his business and his landlord responsibilities. There can be specific requirements for safety and security measures under state and local regulations, building, housing, health, and fire safety codes. Basic safety devices such as smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, deadbolt entry doors, locking windows, security bars, door viewers, and adequate exterior and interior lighting are commonly required under local ordinance or municipal codes.

A landlord is not required to provide security measures other than those devices or measures required by law. Alarm systems, security cameras, or security patrols may add to the security measures taken by the landlord to protect tenants and the property. However, providing such additional measures obligates the landlord to ensure that the security measures are kept in place and devices are maintained in good working order at all times.

Tenants should be encouraged to alert the landlord to suspicious activity or incidents on the property. A landlord should immediately investigate such reports to determine if there is a threat or danger of criminal activity or nuisance before greater harm could be done to tenants or neighbors.

Educating tenants on safety and security measures will allow them to better protect themselves. Many local agencies including law enforcement and emergency services offer community programs on personal safety and security protections that could be beneficial for tenants and landlords. Insurance companies may also provide information.

Landlord security measures must also include safeguarding tenant privacy and rental documents containing tenant personal information such as applications, credit reports, background reports, and correspondence. Access to tenant information should be restricted on a need to know basis for a legitimate business purpose. The same measure of security applies to safeguarding keys to the rental unit. Access to master keys should be restricted for landlord use only. Tenants should be required to return all keys at time of move-out. Because tenants may pass out keys to family members and friends, as a further precaution a landlord should always re-key the rental unit at new tenant move-in.

Tenants should be encouraged to purchase renter insurance to provide coverage for financial protection against loss or destruction of personal possessions and as protection against liability claims of injury to other persons or property damage. Renter insurance can also provide extra liability protection for the landlord.

Physical safety and security devices and property assessments do help to protect tenant safety and help to lessen landlord liability. Not to be overlooked though, are safety and security measures incorporated into rental policies and procedures that control property management operations.

There are many other safety and security measures that landlords can take to reasonably protect tenants’ safety. The key is to keep vigilant on rental property activities, enforce protective policies such as tenant screening and security of personal data, and work within the neighborhood and community to protect people and property.

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