Has Your Landlord Failed to Keep Your Residence Safe?

If you are a tenant renting a home, condominium, apartment or other type of residence, your landlord has obligations to provide you with a safe environment.

The Ohio Landlord Tenant Act places specific obligations on a landlord. Section 5321.04 of the Act lists the following:

1. A landlord must comply with all applicable building, housing, health and safety codes that materially affect health and safety.
2. A landlord must make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.
3. A landlord must keep all common areas of the premises in a safe and sanitary condition.
4. A landlord must maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning fixtures and appliances, and elevators, supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord.
5. If you live in an apartment building that contains four or more apartment units, the landlord must provide and maintain appropriate receptacles for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish, and other waste incidental to the occupancy of a dwelling unit, and arrange for its removal.
6. A landlord must supply running water, reasonable amounts of hot water and reasonable heat at all times, except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose, or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

There are many cases where a tenant has been the victim of an accident and suffered injuries or health problems because of the landlord's failure to provide a safe environment. Here are a few examples:

1. A tenant was walking from the parking lot to her apartment and came across a sidewalk that was flooded after a rain. The tenant walked around the flooded sidewalk into the wet grass, slipped and fell breaking her arm.
2. A tenant whose apartment was on the third floor of an apartment building was walking out of his residence and down a flight of stairs when the handrail broke off causing him to lose his balance, fall down the stairs and break his hip.
3. A tenant's child got sick from the landlord's spraying of pesticides on the grass outside their apartment.
4. A tenant was entering an elevator in her apartment building, tripped and fell suffering a serious head injury. The base of the elevator was not aligning properly as it stopped at each floor causing a tripping hazard.
5. A tenant's children were suffering from headaches and serious breathing problems as a result of the black mold that developed from a leaking waterline in the tenant's wall that was not repaired by the landlord after numerous requests were made by the tenant to have the leak fixed.
6. A tenant was bit by a dog that was infected with rabies. The dog was attracted to and feeding from a garbage dumpster outside the tenant's apartment building that had been over flowing with trash for weeks.

In all of the above examples, monetary amounts were awarded to tenants for the injuries they sustained as a result of the landlord's negligence and failure to provide a safe environment.

The Ohio law firm of Slater & Zurz LLP helps tenants throughout Ohio who have been victimized by landlords who do not provide and properly maintain safe environments for tenants. Slater & Zurz has a long history of dealing with negligent landlords and a respected reputation for delivering positive results to tenants.

If you have suffered an injury because of an unsafe condition at the home, condominium or apartment you rent, call 1-800-297-9191 and talk to an attorney at Slater & Zurz LLP for FREE. You may also email us directly at slaterzurz@slaterzurz.com.

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