Title: Landlord Liability for Tenants' Dogs | Nolo
Headings: Landlord Liability for Tenants' Dogs
Landlord Liability for Tenants' Dogs
Some landlords fear that they'll be on the hook if a tenant's dog injures someone.
Knowing About and Having Power to Remove the Dog
Injuries Off the Landlord's Property
Harboring a Tenant's Dog

Content: A court ruled that the landlords were not "keepers" of the dog, and so were not liable to a guest of the tenants who was bitten by the dog. ( Buturla v. St. Onge, 519 A.2d 1235 (Conn. 1987).) The landlord of a mobile home park was not a keeper of a tenant's dog, under the Minnesota dog-bite statute, because the landlord never tried to control or manage the dog. When the dog attacked a two-year-old on the landlord's property, the landlord could not be found liable, a court ruled. ( Wojciechowski v. Harer, 496 N.W.2d 844 (Minn. App. 1993).) The court based its decision on the dog-bite statute only; it did not discuss whether or not the landlord knew the dog was dangerous. A Wisconsin landlord was held not to be a keeper or harborer of her tenant's dogs, which were kept in a wooded area near where the tenant and landlord lived. The court also ruled that landlords who do not have control over or custody of dogs could not be liable, on general principles of negligence, for injuries those dogs cause. (