Thesis on "Employment Landlord-Tenant Liability and Duties of Care"

Thesis 5 pages (1351 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Employment

LANDLORD-TENANT LIABILITY and DUTIES of CARE

Facts:

The ABC Apartment Company maintains an apartment complex in conjunction with which it employs an apartment complex manager to oversee the property. As part of those responsibilities, the manager has access to the spare keys of all rental units in case of emergency requiring entry to those units. The manager of ABC Apartments misused the key to one of the apartments by raping a tenant after using a spare key to enter a her apartment. Subsequently, it was determined that the manager had a criminal record that was never discovered by ABC Apartment Company at the time of the manager's hire. The tenant has sued ABC Apartment Company for compensatory and punitive damages. Duty of Care:

landlord has an affirmative duty to maintain the safety and integrity of rental premises by exercising reasonable care. That duty includes compliance with applicable housing and real property codes and standards as well as the exercise of reasonable care in protecting tenants from a wide variety of physical harms and monetary losses that are reasonably foreseeable (Feliu & Johnson 2002). Certain types of potential harm to tenants, while foreseeable, are not capable of being prevented by the exercise of reasonable care. Other types of potential harm are easily prevented in hindsight, but not discoverable prospectively except through means that greatly exceed the duty of reasonable care owed by landlords.

In the cases of ABC Apartments, for example, the landlord could have subjected all applicants for the Manager's position to rigorous, multi-tiered medical and psychological evaluation of the same type as used in conjunction with law enforcement applicant screening. However, that level of care exceeds what is reasonably required for apartment complex managers, although an armed managerial position would justify a higher duty of care than otherwise.

The most significant element of the apartment manager's position with respect to establishing what is (and what is not) required by reasonable care by the landlord pertains to his access to the keys to all the rental units necessitated by his responsibilities. At the very least, the foreseeability that access to key banks (or master keys) could be problematic in the case of employees with extensive criminal records for crimes relating to theft.

A preliminary criminal background check is not unreasonable to expect in conjunction with hiring apartment managers by virtue of their access to apartment units.

Even the criminal background check may fail to disclose relevant information; whether or not a greater duty of care is required to go further to confirm the apparent absence of any negative relevant entries depend on the nature of the position.

ABC Apartment's failure to conduct a standard criminal background check of the complex manager was a violation of ABC's duty of care owed to its apartment complex tenants. What is less easily established is exactly where this duty is satisfied without exceeding what is required by reasonable care. For example, had a preliminary background investigation revealed no problematic information, the question becomes whether ABC was required to confirm that lack of information further. Likewise, with respect to the difference between a local records search and a national records search.

Similarly, ABC Apartment's duty of reasonable care to tenants required the investigation of any questionable or contradictory information; it also required further inquiry by virtue of the relative absence of ordinary information normally included in resumes of applicants of comparable age. For example, if the manager-applicant's resume omitted any employment information further back than a few years, a reasonable inquiry by prospective employers includes identifying the applicant's background and history beyond what is included on the resume furnished by the applicant (Feliu & Johnson 2002).

Finally, in terms of establishing what level of inquiry is required by reasonable care, it is possible for an employment applicant to have no criminal record at all but numerous civil cases on record evidencing violent propensity. Generally, records for civil judgments must be procured individually from the state where they arose; furthermore, civil claims that do not result in a finding against… READ MORE

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