Title: Landlord Obligations for Habitable Premises - The Basic California Law | Stimmel Law
Headings: Landlord Obligations for Habitable Premises - The Basic California Law
Landlord Obligations for Habitable Premises - The Basic California Law
The Basic Law:
The Statute:
[CA Civil Code Sec. 1941.2]
Legal Remedies Available for Tenant:
Landlord Liability for Unsafe Conditions:
Conclusion:
Article Categories

Content: At the same time, landlords are not guarantors of the safety of their tenants or employees and if the landlord takes reasonable steps to provide a safe locale, liability will not be imposed for harm to tenants caused by third parties or unforeseen circumstances. Some case law illustrates the law. In Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Center (1993), an employee sued a shopping center landlord after she was raped inside a tenant’s store. The Supreme Court ruled that the landlord was not liable for negligence, and thereby established the importance of the landlord’s ability to foresee that a criminal act may occur in the premises. The Court ruled that the landlord is only obligated to hire security guards for a shopping center if he has reasonable foresight that a crime may occur, based on the knowledge of prior similar acts of crime in the premises. Given that the landlord had recorded all prior criminal events and noticed no indication of similar events having taken place in the past, the Court ruled that the landlord could not foresee a ‘violent criminal assault’, and therefore, was not obligated to hire security guards. IIn Medina v. Hillshore Partners (1995), the mother of a man who was killed by a gang near an apartment complex sued the landlord for negligence. The Court ruled that the landlord had no duty to the victim because the act occurred off the premises. Even though the plaintiff argued that the landlord’s complex served as headquarters for the gang members and the landlord had already received complaints about the gang, the Court held that premises liability can be imposed on a landlord only when an act of crime occurs on the premises itself and not on an adjacent area. In Debra S. Rosenbaum v. Security Bank Corporation (1996), a tenant was mugged on the street in front of her apartment and suffered several injuries.