Grasping well the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is a significant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they agreed to suitably maintain your Germantown rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. However, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and issues that start on the property can hastily escalate into legal problems for you.
Although, you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, if you hear 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 most likely be contingent on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to handle it. Being proactive in such circumstances is vital to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
Every so often renters are excellent at hiding shady activities from their landlords. Yet, if you do identify happening on your rental property, it is necessary to address the issues immediately. In a lot of regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you were aware of.
For instance, 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 be most likely to hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
At times, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may arise. For instance, if you actually know your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion on the subject of whether or not that states that you should have assumed they would be conducting that business in the rental home.
Anyhow, if your renter had been evicted for noisy parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. If you’ve conducted due diligence and didn’t ascertain any evidence of past problems, that will augment your chances of avoiding liability.
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates in the instant that you discover about them is always a good idea. Although sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to thoroughly fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t certainly broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
For you to be liable, you must have the power to completely do something relating to the issue. Needless to say, the flip side is that if your lease clarifies that you don’t allow noisy parties or business activities and you don’t take action, you might be on the hook in a lawsuit
The specific terms and language used in the lease are a focal first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. Together with that, taking immediate and appropriate action is likewise salient to keeping yourself from being sued by worried neighbors.
Attentively and thoroughly screening your renters is another relevant part of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is undertaking regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Investor’s Choice, we do all this for our Germantown property owners – and more. Would you like to discover more? Make certain to get in touch with us online or by phone at 615-810-9578 for more invaluable 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.
