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Repair Responsibility for a Broken Gutter

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  • 01-23-2019, 08:30 PM
    jk-smith
    Repair Responsibility for a Broken Gutter
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: GA

    The gutter has broken off on a rental home on the 2nd story. Landlord has been notified in text and mail and has not responded. Who is responsible for repair?

    Home is 2 story and broken gutter extends from one side of the home to the other and a good strong wind can push it over. The gutter can fall onto the driveway and front door area and hurt people and/or property.
  • 01-24-2019, 10:37 AM
    pg1067
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    What does your lease say about this?

    Beyond what the lease says, the tenant has exclusive possession of the premises. If the tenant is aware of a dangerous condition and doesn't take reasonable action to remove the danger or at least warn others, the tenant could be held liable to anyone injured as a result of the dangerous condition.
  • 01-24-2019, 10:58 AM
    llworking
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Have you specifically informed the landlord that its a hazard and someone could get hurt? If the landlord thinks that the gutter has just broken off the home he may not see it as urgent in any way. If he knows its a hazard he might take quicker action.

    Quote:

    Quoting pg1067
    View Post
    What does your lease say about this?

    Beyond what the lease says, the tenant has exclusive possession of the premises. If the tenant is aware of a dangerous condition and doesn't take reasonable action to remove the danger or at least warn others, the tenant could be held liable to anyone injured as a result of the dangerous condition.

    So you think that a tenant should crawl up a ladder to access the second floor to remove a gutter the rest of the way? No way should the tenant do that. It's hazardous.
  • 01-24-2019, 01:12 PM
    pg1067
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting llworking
    View Post
    So you think that a tenant should crawl up a ladder to access the second floor to remove a gutter the rest of the way? No way should the tenant do that. It's hazardous.

    I haven't the faintest idea why you apparently think that what I think is in any way relevant here. Regardless of what I think, I certainly didn't write what I think the OP (or any hypothetical tenant) should do under any particular set of unknown or only vaguely known circumstances and have no opinion about the viability the OP or any hypothetical tenant dealing the described issue in a particular way. For all you or I know, the OP is a licensed roofing contractor who is completely capable of personally dealing with this without hazard. Even if that's not the case, "tak[ing] reasonable action to remove the danger or at least warn others," could include hiring a competent professional or any number of things other than personally "crawl[ing] [or climbing] up a ladder to access the second floor to remove [or repair] a gutter."
  • 01-24-2019, 01:43 PM
    llworking
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting pg1067
    View Post
    I haven't the faintest idea why you apparently think that what I think is in any way relevant here. Regardless of what I think, I certainly didn't write what I think the OP (or any hypothetical tenant) should do under any particular set of unknown or only vaguely known circumstances and have no opinion about the viability the OP or any hypothetical tenant dealing the described issue in a particular way. For all you or I know, the OP is a licensed roofing contractor who is completely capable of personally dealing with this without hazard. Even if that's not the case, "tak[ing] reasonable action to remove the danger or at least warn others," could include hiring a competent professional or any number of things other than personally "crawl[ing] [or climbing] up a ladder to access the second floor to remove [or repair] a gutter."

    Go back and re-read what you wrote. The implication was strong that you felt that the tenant was responsible.
  • 01-24-2019, 02:09 PM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting llworking
    View Post
    Go back and re-read what you wrote. The implication was strong that you felt that the tenant was responsible.

    Depending on the lease the tenant may well be financially responsible and could certainly be responsible if he doesn't at least notify someone about a dangerous condition on property he is leasing and has control of.
  • 01-24-2019, 02:15 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting llworking
    View Post
    Go back and re-read what you wrote. The implication was strong that you felt that the tenant was responsible.

    Responsible for removing or repairing (or having it removed or repaired) - we don't know what the lease says about exterior structural issues but I think it's unlikely that a lease would impose such responsibility on a tenant, though I suppose it's possible.

    Liability for an injury under negligence law is what I think PG1067 was referring to and that's a different story.
  • 01-24-2019, 04:10 PM
    pg1067
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting llworking
    View Post
    Go back and re-read what you wrote. The implication was strong that you felt that the tenant was responsible.

    I know exactly what I wrote, but I don't know what you mean by "was responsible." Responsible for what?

    What I wrote in my original response in this thread was that the tenant has exclusive possession of the premises. No question about that (in the absence of some really unusual lease provision). I also wrote that a tenant, like everyone else, has an obligation to act reasonably, and that, if a tenant with exclusive possession of a premises is aware of a dangerous condition and fails to act reasonably in response, he/she "could be held liable to anyone injured as a result of the dangerous condition." There's no implication in any of that that this particular OP-tenant "was responsible" for anything, and there's certainly no reasonable interpretation of what I wrote that I was opining that the OP needs to climb a ladder and fix the gutter him/herself.

    Oh...I also asked a question about what the OP's lease says, and the OP hasn't seen fit to answer that question as of yet.
  • 01-24-2019, 07:40 PM
    jk
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting llworking
    View Post
    Go back and re-read what you wrote. The implication was strong that you felt that the tenant was responsible.

    And the tenant may very well be liable. We don’t have the lease to investigate that
  • 01-24-2019, 08:04 PM
    jk-smith
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    The lease states the tenant is responsible for minor, interior repairs and the landlord should be notified of unsafe conditions and given reasonable time for repairs. The landlord was notified via text, voice message, and postal mail of the situation. Pictures of the damage were included in the text and mail. There has been no response. Tenant is not skilled in structural damage so "getting up on a ladder" may make the situation worse. Should a complaint be made somewhere if the landlord fails to respond/ repair?
  • 01-25-2019, 09:54 AM
    pg1067
    Re: Repair Responsibility
    Quote:

    Quoting jk-smith
    View Post
    The lease states the tenant is responsible for minor, interior repairs and the landlord should be notified of unsafe conditions and given reasonable time for repairs.

    Then that pretty much answers your question, right?


    Quote:

    Quoting jk-smith
    View Post
    Should a complaint be made somewhere if the landlord fails to respond/ repair?

    There are, in some places, local agencies that will regulate certain matters in connection with apartments, but there is typically no oversight regarding rented single-family residences (which is what it sounds like you've got).

    You didn't mention how long it's been since you notified the landlord. Therefore, for all we know, you it may be no more than a couple days, or maybe it's been months. It's up to you to assess the seriousness of the condition, and it's worth pointing out that your potential liability for injuries to others is not impacted by the fact that the lease puts the responsibility on the landlord to make the repair. Obviously, you should keep calling the landlord about this, but you may get to a point where you need to make a decision to pay for the repair yourself and try and get reimbursed by the landlord (or, if allowed by your state's landlord-tenant law, deduct the cost from your rent payment).
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