When you began looking for a place to live, you may have felt limited in your options. Various circumstances could have led to this feeling, such as few available rentals in your area, limited income or other factors. After a time, you found a place you could afford and moved in.
Over time, however, you may have begun to wonder whether your apartment or rental home was safe. Though landlords have an obligation to ensure that their rentals do not pose health or safety hazards to tenants, some landlords do not always maintain their residences as well as they should.
Are you living in a dangerous home?
When you began noticing issues with your residence, you may have contacted your landlord immediately in order to bring the problems to his or her attention. You may have noticed rotted places in your flooring or that your roof had serious leaks. Not only are these issues annoying, but they could also pose safety risks. Stepping on rotted floors could cause them, and you, to fall through, and leaky roofs can have compromised structural integrity, which could cause them to cave in.
Unfortunately, some dangers are not as obvious. The apartment building or home you rent could have electrical issues, gas leaks, mold problems or issues with the pipes that you may not know about until a serious problem occurs.
What if you suffer injuries on the property?
Unfortunately, even if you bring the problems to your landlord’s attention, he or she may not take the time to fix the issues before a serious accident occurs. This type of incident could result in you suffering serious injuries. After all, there may have been little you could do before a portion of your roof unexpectedly caved in or a fire broke out due to electrical issues. If injuries do result because of hazards on the property, you may have reason to pursue legal action.
Does a premises liability claim suit your situation?
Any type of legal claim can prove difficult to pursue. If you suffered injuries in your rental home, your landlord may be liable for the resulting damages if issues with the property directly contributed to the injury-causing accident. In order to determine whether your exact situation warrants legal action, you may want to discuss the details with a Georgia attorney.