You may always be cautious and make an exerted effort to remain safe whenever you step outside your place of residence. But most unfortunately, if you rent your apartment unit, you may also have to fear for your safety in your own dwelling. This is especially true if you do not entirely trust your landlord’s efforts to keep the premises safe. With that being said, please read on to discover a landlord’s liability in an apartment accident and how a seasoned Panama City slip & fall accident attorney at Manuel & Thompson, PA can help you pursue legal action if deemed necessary.

What types of accidents can happen in an apartment complex?

Just like on any other property, slip and fall accidents happen the most within apartment complexes. Below are the most common causes of such:

  • You may slip and fall due to a crack or weather-related debris cluttering the sidewalks.
  • You may slip and fall due to inadequate lighting within the indoor parking garages.
  • You may slip and fall due to a loose or missing handrail or step in a stairwell.
  • You may slip and fall due to unsecured equipment and machines in the gym facility.
  • You may slip and fall due to wet tiles surrounding the swimming pool area.

What is a landlord’s potential liability in an apartment accident?

First of all, as a tenant, you may have some threshold of responsibility for keeping yourself safe in your apartment unit and when navigating the complex. That is, you must report any hazardous conditions on the property you see or encounter to your landlord as soon as possible. This is especially important for hazards within your private apartment unit, which your landlord may not have immediate access to investigate. In turn, you must exercise an abundance of caution to avoid these potential hazards on the property. That means sidestepping a wet floor or taking an alternate walkway, stairwell, or sidewalk with all its light fixtures working properly, as a couple of examples.

That said, you may do everything within your reasonable power to remain safe, but your landlord’s negligence may sabotage your best efforts. Without further ado, your landlord owes you the following duties, and if they fail to uphold them, you may hold them liable in an apartment accident claim:

  • Duty of care: your landlord must maintain all parts of their premises in a safe condition, including individual apartment units and common walkways, stairwells, sidewalks, etc.
  • Duty to repair: your landlord must identify and take measures to repair potentially hazardous conditions on their premises within a reasonable timeframe.
  • Duty to warn: your landlord must effectively warn their tenants of these potentially hazardous conditions and block off these access points in the meantime.

Before entering these proceedings, you should have already hired one of the seasoned Panama City personal injury attorneys to represent you. So, if you have not done so already, please get in touch with Manuel & Thompson, PA today.