Court Rules Ohio Landlords Are Liable for Safety of Tenants’ Guests

Landlords are on notice after a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court. The high court ruled that landlords owe the same duty of safety to guests as they do for tenants.

In Mann v. Northgate Apartments, a 16 year old was injured when she visited a friend who was a tenant of the Northgate Apartment Complex.

On June 15, 2007, at approximately 11 p.m. Mann left her friend’s apartment and walked down two flights of stairs. The hallway where the stairs were located was dark, according to Mann. On the last step of her descent she fell through a glass panel next to the glass exit door. Due to the injuries she sustained, she filed suit against Northgate alleging the building owner failed to maintain adequate lighting for safe ingress and egress to the premises, thereby creating a danger to residents and guests.

Northgate filed a motion for summary judgment and denied Mann’s allegations citing that the darkness was an open and obvious danger and it owed no duty to an invitee for its care of the property.

Mann cited the state’s Landlord-Tenant Act which requires landlords to make all necessary repairs and to maintain the property in a fit and habitable condition. The trial court granted Northgate’s summary judgment motion and Mann appealed.

The Appeals court sided with Mann and the case was remanded to the trial court.

The Feb. 12 Supreme Court decision says that state law requires landlords to do whatever is reasonably necessary to keep their properties in a “safe and sanitary condition,” according to an Associated Press report.