LANDLORD-TENANT RELATIONSHIP & PREMISES LIABILITY IN GEORGIA

More and more people in our community – especially those who are new to the area - are choosing to rent instead of buy a home. While most of us are blessed with a caring, responsive landlord who takes care of dangerous conditions on his/her tenant’s rental property once notified of the problem, there remain some who apparently choose to do nothing and hope no one gets hurt.

If a tenant is unlucky enough to have a landlord who doesn’t repair the rental property, despite repeated requests, that tennat needs to know that his or her family has rights. Common examples of dangerous conditions on a rental property include a leaky ceiling, a door or window lock that needs replacement, or a defective stove, oven, or heater. All of these conditions can lead to injury to the occupants of the property.

Fortunately, in an attempt to address the “non-caring” landlords, Georgia’s legislature and Courts have defined that the public policy of the State of Georgia is to require that the landlord provide a tenant with a rental property free from disrepair and structural defects. This was the precise holding of Georgia’s Supreme Court in Thompson v. Crownover, 259 Ga. 126, 128 (381 S.E.2d 283)(1989). This is perhaps THE most important case in Georgia concerning a tenant’s right to live in an apartment or rental home free from dangerous conditions.

In the Thompson case, the landlord provided the tenant with a shoddy gas heater that had no protective cover. It was the only source of heat for the home. The tenant, who had several children residing with her, informed the landlord that the heater was dangerous and requested that the landlord repair it. The landlord did not. The tenant tried to repair the heater herself, but she was not able to obtain a protective cover of the appropriate size to safely operate the heater. The repair was unsuccessful. The gas heater deteriorated even more, and open gas flames were exposed after its top fell off. Eventually, the tenant’s clothes caught on fire in an accident, and she was seriously burnt—all as a result of a negligent landlord. The Thompson court went on to hold that there are two public policies in Georgia concerning landlord-tenant relationships and dangerous conditions on a residential rental property:

(1) Georgia’s public policy is to impose upon the landlord liability for damages to others from defective construction and failure to keep the rental premises in repair; and

(2) Georgia’s public policy favors preventing unsafe residential housing.

Essentially these policies mean that if you are hurt due to a landlord’s failure to promptly fix a dangerous condition on the rental property that you notify them about, they may be liable to pay for injuries to you or another. These public policies provide strong support for a tenant/tenant’s guest who are injured by a dangerous condition on his landlord’s land. Also supportive is the legislature’s codification of the landlord’s duty to repair in OCGA 44-7-14. There may also be federal housing codes that apply to the landlord, depending on the type rental property. Finally, it is not enough for a landlord to say “I tried to fix it,” if the dangerous condition is not, in fact, properly fixed. A landlord can be held liable for failing to properly fix a dangerous condition. See Atkins v. MRP Park Lake, L.P., 301 Ga. App. 275, 278 (687 S.E.2d 215) (2009) (“A landlord is liable for damages when the repairs he has a duty to make are completed negligently so that a defect in the premises remains despite the attempted repair.”).

In summary, landlords and tenants have a special legal relationship under the law pursuant to the public policy of Georgia. A tenant does not have to sit back and “take it” when a landlord refuses to fix a dangerous condition. If a tenant knows of a problem , they should first tell the landlord and follow that notice up IN WRITING. If it persists and the tenant is later injured by that dangerous condition on the property they should contact a lawyer immediately as the landlord may very well be liable. - MPJ