Correctly understanding the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is a significant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they fundamentally agreed to maintain your Marco Island rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. However, in truth, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and problems that start out on the property can right away escalate into legal problems for you.
Yes, you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, but, certainly, if you know that your rental home is being used for unauthorized business activities, your neighbors could potentially hold you on the hook for a lawsuit. The outcome of any legal action taken against you will largely count on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to rightly address it. Being proactive in such situations is essentially critical to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
Now and then, renters are pretty good at hiding shady activities from their landlords. At any rate, if you do learn of something happening on your rental property, it is salient to address the issues immediately. In several regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you were really aware of.
Such as, for example, 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 certianly hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
At times, in a few instances, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may arise. For instance, if you have an idea that your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion relative to whether or not that likewise suggests that you should have assumed they would be conducting that business in the rental home.
Likewise, if your renter had been evicted for rambunctious and loud parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. Without a doubt, if you’ve undertaken due diligence and didn’t ascertain any evidence of past problems, that will actually increase your chances of avoiding liability.
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates the first chance you heard about them is always a good idea. Then again, sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to entirely fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t completely broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
To be actually liable, you must have the power to really do something as regards 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 then be on the hook in a lawsuit.
The specific terms and language used in the lease are an essential first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. Together with that, taking immediate and appropriate action is, in addition, integral to keeping yourself from being sued by bothered neighbors.
Cautiously and thoroughly screening your renters is another very important part of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is putting into effect regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Qualified, we do all this for our Marco Island property owners – and more. Would you like to learn more? You’re welcome to get in touch with us online or by phone at 239-344-9842 for more detailed information.
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.