A tenant`s guest suffers a serious slip and fall accident on the premises and files a lawsuit for bodily injury against the landlord. Who pays the claim and/or legal fees and expenses to defend against it? It depends on the lease and the law of the state. According to Martha Stewart`s slogan, a landlord who gives a tenant exclusive ownership, control and responsibility for the leased space (e.B. operation, maintenance and repair) can be “a good thing” when it comes to the landlord`s costs and exposure to bodily injury by the tenant`s guests or clients. However, this does not mean that the owner has to give up all control. Each of the different programs in which your tenants participate has its own rules, has rules and therefore requires its own version of your lease to adequately protect your interests and dispel unnecessary liabilities. For those of you who attended our Popular Section 8 Seminar, you know what to do with your tenants in Section 8. But what about the rest of them? Contact your landlord lawyer if your lease does not contain such clauses (they can and are very beneficial for landlords) or if you have not had them checked for legal compliance for some time. For example, the Connecticut Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the landlord in a case of bodily injury by a tenant`s customer who was injured in a car accident in the site`s parking lot. The Court of Appeal emphasized the importance of the wording of the lease because it could certainly express whether the landlord retained control of the premises or whether they were under the “exclusive control” of the tenant. In this case, the commercial lease entrusted the tenant with “full and sole responsibility” for the premises (including the parking space). While the lease also provided that the tenant must obtain the landlord`s consent before taking action on the premises, careful legal development of the approval clause prevented the “total and sole liability” clause from being compromised and gave the landlord the benefit of the approval without the risks associated with the operation, maintenance and repair.
We`ve written a lot about the importance of your lease to your success as a landlord. This is the most important document you have as an owner, and regular attention to its content will prove beneficial and profitable during your career as an owner. But there is one topic regarding leases that I came across in the context of a summary dispute that I thought deserved to be highlighted here in the lawyer – with the right lease. In particular, in the case of commercial (but also residential) leases, landlords include indemnification and insurance clauses in order to pass on the financial risk and the burden of these claims to the tenant. Indemnification is the assumption of another party`s liability under .B a contract, for example a rental agreement. Therefore, under a indemnification clause, tenants generally agree to reimburse or pay directly to the landlord “all losses, claims, lawsuits, liabilities and expenses” related to a liability situation. Contact your landlord`s lawyer to determine if your lease grants the tenant sufficient exclusive use to provide protection against liability claims for injury to the premises. An insurance clause usually requires the tenant to insure their own liability insurance for such situations, and sometimes the tenant requires the landlord to refer to the landlord as an “additional insured” to provide additional protection to the landlord. In this situation (as crazy as it may seem to someone who does not work in the legal or insurance field), the tenant does not assume the responsibility of the owner, but of the tenant`s insurance company, although in both situations the owner is not financially exposed to risk. Here`s the scene. You manage a building with tax credit units.
So you have market tenants, tax credit tenants, social housing tenants, and you probably also have section 8 tenants. You have a lease – one in which you very carefully invested a lot of time and money when you managed this strictly market-oriented property three years ago. Excellent decision to invest in your lease. All homeowners should follow your example. Now you make the decision to order that you will use this brilliantly designed lease in the new property, and you will start renting units. Well, you say, since the tenant is not a tenant of social housing, this provision of the lease simply does not apply. If only it were that simple. The problem is that no matter what type of tenancy or subsidy program the tenant is eligible for, the lease between the landlord and the tenant governs their relationship.
Therefore, the perpetual rent clause applies, as do all provisions on the amount of rent based on the tenant`s income, as calculated in accordance with federal regulations, etc., etc. Imagine that a market tenant is offered and signs this lease. You may be limiting the amount of rent you could charge that tenant without knowing it. While many different programs can be effectively managed under the same or very similar leases, the differences in these programs are still significant and can be crucial to the ultimate success of your property. If you`re taking new properties with new programs or consolidating your holdings into a specific program, make sure your most important document for your landlord`s success is the right one. If not, at best, you can handle a dead-end situation. State law defines whether indemnification and insurance clauses are enforceable. Where state law generally applies such clauses, it often includes guidelines for determining whether the specific wording of a clause would render part (or all) of the clause unenforceable or void.
Many recent cases involving the Massachusetts and Texas law remind us of the key points of this type of rent clause: Here`s a real-life example I recently encountered. The tenant has received services in accordance with Article 8. The landlord asked the tenant to execute a HUD model lease for social housing. It sounds pretty innocent, and some might even say it`s perfectly fine. Well, here`s just a provision of the HUD lease model that an Article 8 landlord may not want in their lease – automatic renewal for consecutive terms of one year. It is true that this section 8 tenant received a permanent lease. No option not to renew at the end of the year. Such a provision is not permitted in social housing rental contracts. If spelled correctly, typical commercial and residential lease clauses, which require the tenant to obtain the landlord`s consent before taking steps such as modifying or adding improvements to the property, can remain in the lease without destroying the tenant`s “exclusive” rights.
Here`s the “test” you can take if you haven`t already, that you could face a fabricated discrimination charge at the HRD. The tester calls you and asks if you have two rooms available. .