Who’s Liable, the Intruder or the Landlord?

Who’s Liable, the Intruder of the Landlord?

James Sanders

University of Phoenix

Intro

As a landlord, one of the most important responsibility you have is to provide a safe haven for your tenants to reside in.  On some occasions, the safety of the tenants is completely out of the hands of the landlord.  As the landlord of the University Heights Apartments, a business that rents primarily to students, you have a moral and ethical responsibility to keep the grounds as safe as possible for the students.  One evening, one of your tenants is attacked by an intruder who forces open the lock on the sliding glass door of her ground-floor apartment.  The Tenant’s screams attract the attention of your resident manager, who comes to the tenant’s aid.  Together, the tenant and your resident manager drive the intruder off, but not before they both are badly cut by the intruder.  Who is liable for the injuries your tenant and resident manager sustained?

Is the intruder liable for what he has done?

Ultimately, the first question is going to be if the intruder has any liability in what they did.  The intruder trespassed and committed battery, at the minimum, when the intruder cut both the tenant and your resident manager with the knife.  According to Cahoy, Morehead, Pagnattaro, Reed, and Shedd, trespassing is defined enter another’s land without consent or to remain there after being asked to leave (2013).  The intruder trespassed onto the grounds of the University Heights Apartments and forced his way into the room of your tenant.  Cahoy, Morehead, Pagnattaro, Reed, and Shedd also define battery as an illegal touching of another. As used here, “illegal” means that the touching is done without justification and without the consent of the person touched (2013).  The intruder illegally “touched” the tenant and your resident manager with his knife.  Both of these torts committed by the intruder deems him to be liable for his actions.

Do you have legal responsibilities to the tenant or resident manager?

As unfortunate as the situation of the tenant and resident manager being hurt by the intruder was, you, as the landlord, are not legally responsible to either of them.  According to Weissenberger and McFarland, a landlord will be held in possession of all areas on the premises used in common by the tenants and may be liable for harm sustained by entrants, including tenants, while in these areas (2013).  These type of common areas would be a laundry area or an open corridor between individual units in an apartment building.  Weissenberger and McFarland continue by stating, however, the landlord will generally not be liable for injuries occurring in areas within the exclusive possession of tenants (2013).  The exclusive areas possessed by tenants in this case would be the inside of their rental unit.  Therefore, given the scenario provided, the landlord would not be legally responsible to the tenant or resident manager.