tentant claims he fell - Landlord Forum thread

tentant claims he fell by sue (ca) on July 30, 2012 @22:55

my tenant calls and tells me he put his foot through the foor, and claimes he hurt his shoulder and wants me to help pay for his surgery. i need advise.tenant is always complaining.always late with rent

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Re: tentant claims he fell by Anonymous on July 30, 2012 @23:19	[ Reply ]

Well? Did you check out the floor? Was the floor rotten? Call your insurance agent.

Re: tentant claims he fell by Anonymous on July 30, 2012 @23:58	[ Reply ]

Go an inspect the floor and see what is going on. Floors don't just crumble. Either it's rotting wood due to neglect/termites/flooding or someone cut the floor out. What does he complain about? Have they been legitimate complaints? Do you address the complaints promptly and fix whatever is broken in a timely manner? As the other poster wrote, call your home insurance company. Go inspect, call in a proper contractor/repair person and a lawyer at this point. Your tenant is probably going to get a lawyer at some point since whatever injury he has requires surgery. It would probably be best to get documentation from the doctor that the surgery is for an injury sustained by that fall and not just chronic overuse, heavy lifting or repetitive motions. That is what the lawyer is for. The one red flag I see is that he wants you to only help with some of the cost and not all of the cost. Something doesn't add up and not enough information is being given. If I was hurt as a result of a LL not maintaining the home or something in the home malfunctioning through no fault of my own, I would be asking for ALL of the expenses to be covered since it wasn't my fault or due to my negligence. The only time I would ask for less than that is if my medical insurance was covering most of it. Then I would expect the remaining balance and co-pays to be covered the owner.

Re: tentant claims he fell by Franklin (TN) on July 31, 2012 @08:58	[ Reply ]

What? He put his foot through the floor? How does this happen? If he's falling through the floor, you have a MUCH bigger problem than paying for shoulder surgery. Why would you post this before going to inspect your place? If I heard someone had fallen through one of my floors, I'd be in my car heading there in less than 5 minutes. You seem like quite the slumlord if you haven't even gone to check on your place that supposedly has holes in the floor.

Re: tentant claims he fell

Re: tentant claims he fell by MrDan (Georgia) on July 31, 2012 @12:34	[ Reply ]

The 'tenant is always complaining, always late with rent' has nothing to do with what you need to do about the tenant claiming injury because of defected flooring which the tenant feel through. You should have already had investigated the floor for damage or defects so you would know if in fact the flooring was defective. You should have then called your insurance agent to inform them of a possible claim for injury. They might want to investigate the accident themselves. You should have also made sure that no other protenial flooring problems exist and if they do, take action to prevent any other injuries from occuring by a temporary fix or blocking the area off. These are the first things you should have done. Do not discuss paying for his medical bills, just have him seek medical attention as needed. Your insurance company will handle the claim if needed. If the tenant is always complaining, hopefully, it was not about the flooring. Always late with the rent has nothing to do with this accident. You should also have records of inspections you have done and condition of the property available.

Re: tentant claims he fell by Douglas (KS) on July 31, 2012 @19:11	[ Reply ]

There is a tenant responsibility to report maintenance problems. If he complained about the floor and you did nothing, that is a lot worse.