Appropriately understanding the potential legal consequences of a tenant’s negligence is quite a significant challenge for landlords. When your tenant signed the lease, they basically agreed to maintain your Bixby rental home in a clean and proper condition and refrain from illegal activities. However, in reality, not all tenants adhere to these terms, and troubles that are initiated on the property can hastily escalate into legal problems for you.
Even though it is true that you are not held responsible for the illegal activities of your tenant, if you do hear that your rental home is being used for unauthorized business activities, your neighbors could potentially hold you totally accountable. The outcome of any legal action taken against you will mainly be contingent on your awareness of the issue and the steps you took to properly address it. Being proactive in such situations is critically important to protecting your interests.
How and When You Knew
Every so often, renters are excellent at hiding shady activities from their landlords. Yet, if you do identify something that’s happening on your rental property, it is imperative to address the issues immediately. In most regions, you could be held liable in court if your tenant engages in dangerous or illegal activities that you were really aware of.
For illustration, 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, in all probability, hold you liable for any damages.
The Slippery Slope of “Should”
In a few occasions, whether you “should” have known about a renter’s illicit activities may come up. For illustration, if you perceive your renter is self-employed before you offer them a lease, there is some confusion in reference to whether or not that states that you should have assumed they would also be conducting that business in the rental home.
Anyhow, if your renter had been evicted for vibrant, wild parties in the past, you may be held accountable since you should have checked with their previous landlord about it. If you’ve brought about due diligence and didn’t see any evidence of past problems, that will heighten your chances of avoiding liability.
Addressing the Problem
Addressing any problems a renter creates whenever you hear about them is always a good idea. Despite that, sometimes, a property owner has a limited ability to wholly fix the issue altogether. If a tenant is creating a nuisance for the neighbors but hasn’t certainly broken the lease terms, you can’t be held responsible for failing to evict them.
To be accountable or liable, you must have the power to completely do something concerning the issue. But, the flip side is that if your lease clarifies that you don’t allow high-spirited, noisy parties or business activities and you don’t take action, you might, indeed, be on the hook in a lawsuit
The specific terms and language used in the lease are a focal first step toward holding your tenants accountable for any nuisance or illicit activities. Alongside that, taking immediate and appropriate action is secondly key to keeping yourself from being sued by worried neighbors.
Ardently and thoroughly screening your renters is another crucial part of keeping yourself out of unwelcome legal trouble, as is working on regular property evaluations. At Real Property Management Tulsa, we do all this for our Bixby property owners – and more. Would you like to ascertain more? Just feel free to get in touch with us online or by phone at 918-532-7020 for more necessary 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.
