Is a Landlord Liable for Criminal Activity?

Being the victim of a criminal attack can be the most frightening experience of your life. The most obvious person to blame is the one who robbed, mugged, or assaulted you – but did you know the property landlord could also be liable? Despite not being an active party in the crime, your landlord is still responsible for criminal activities that occur on the property. Learn when victims of crime can file civil lawsuits against landlords in Houston.

It may surprise you to learn that criminal acts on someone else’s property fall under the legal category of premises liability. It is the property owner – or holder’s – responsibility to reasonably prevent criminal activity. This requires learning about criminal history in the area or at the location and taking steps to prevent foreseeable crimes. What is “foreseeable” will depend on the area, crime history, and whether tenants have reported crimes in the past. Steps to prevent crime could include:

Failure to do what a “reasonable and prudent” landowner would do in similar circumstances, resulting in injuries from criminal activity, is negligence. Injured victims would have grounds to sue the property owner for this negligence, pursuing recovery for medical bills, property loss or damage, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. A landlord might not own the property, but that does not automatically protect him or her from liability.

A duty of care exists between landlords and their tenants. Landlords must protect their tenants to a certain degree. For example, they must ensure their buildings are up to code and comply with safe living standards. They must also make the premises secure, installing or replacing locks and other security features. Landlords should keep windows and doors in good working order. If the landlord knows or “reasonably should have known” of the possibility of crime, the landlord must do something about it – making changes to prevent crime.

What the law does and does not expect a landlord to do to prevent crime depends on the situation. If the home or apartment is in a high-crime area, the courts might find it reasonable and prudent to install bars on the windows, put up motion-sensor lights, and hire a nighttime security guard. If there has never been a history of crime in the area, the courts might not expect as much from the landlord. It will be up to the plaintiff (injured party) to prove the landlord was negligent in his or her duties to keep the premises secure and crime-free.

The courts do not expect a landlord’s efforts to be perfect. They do expect them to do enough to encourage and promote safety, as is reasonable for the circumstances. Proving landlord negligence and liability can be tricky in these cases. Victims should retain attorneys to fight on their behalf.

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