Liability of Queens Landlords in Cases Concerning Poorly-Maintained Property
Anyone who has lived in an apartment knows that your landlord is completely responsible for the safety of you and the other people who call a building home. From changing lightbulbs to fixing cracks on the back sidewalks, these men and women must ensure that anyone living in their Queens apartment is 100% safe and happy, but this is, unfortunately, not always the case.
In many unfortunate incidences, renters will suffer moderate-to-severe injuries after a simple trip and fall over poorly-maintained stairs or on random pieces of sludge. However, does this accident necessarily lead back to the landlord? Are the incident and subsequent injury technically their fault?
Let’s take a closer look at the liability of Queens landlords to determine if they are responsible for accidents stemming from poor maintenance.
The Massiveness of Apartment Renting in Queens
Consider the fact that, as of 2010, 865,878 housing units had been established in the borough of Queens (in Queens County, New York). Out of these thousands of units, only 44.5% had been occupied by the owners of these buildings. In essence, this reveals that the massive scale of the percentage of tenants who rent apartment spaces in other Queens neighborhoods, like Jamaica, Flushing, or Bayside, among others.
With a span of renters and landlords that large, you can begin to understand how the risk of slip-and-fall injuries begins to skyrocket in certain areas.
The Big Four of Premises Liability Cases in Queens
Ultimately, when you are seeking to prove that a landlord was responsible for your accident, you need to consider the four most important elements in a case of negligence:
- Duty to care for renters: Landlords have a duty to make sure people renting spaces in their buildings are completely safe.
- Breach of duty: Your landlord breached his/her duty and responsibility to keep you safe by failing to maintain the property.
- Causation: The fact that poorly-maintained property could harm people is not enough for a case. Ultimately, you have to prove that something actually inflicted your injuries and that the landlord had purposefully ignored the property damage.
- Establishing harm: Subsequently, the courts must be able to determine that actual harm occurred after the accident. For example, you must have evidence proving you broke your arm or dislocated your shoulder as a result of the slip-and-fall incident.
For more information on slip-and-fall cases, please review the Facts page on HG.org.
Personal Injury Lawyer in New York
Everything from a simple stroll to a casual run across a city sidewalk can bring you so much joy, but, in the blink of an eye, just a simple journey by foot can quickly take a turn for the worst. Due to the negligence of building superintendents, school administrators, city maintenance workers, and other people who work to ensure the safety of the public, a trip and fall across a crack or dip you didn’t see coming can inflict moderate-to-serious wounds.
Although this might be difficult, though, you must remain calm. With the assistance of a lawyer who is experienced with personal injury cases, you can gather viable resources to create a strong case in court.
Here at Gattuso & Ciotoli, our combined 50 years of legal experience overlays some of the most high-quality legal services to accident victims who live in the vicinity of Syracuse, New York. We value your perspective on your case and your goals for the future and ready to help you receive the justice you deserve, every step of the way. For more information on our four practice areas or details about a claim, contact us at (315) 314-8000 today.