{"id":889242,"date":"2016-06-07T16:57:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=889242"},"modified":"2016-06-07T16:57:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T22:57:22","slug":"georgia-court-clarifies-landlord-liability-for-construction-defects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-court-clarifies-landlord-liability-for-construction-defects\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Court Clarifies Landlord Liability for Construction Defects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chadd Reynolds. | <a href=\"http:\/\/ahclaw.com\/construction-blog\/2016\/05\/georgia-court-clarifies-landlord-liability-construction-defects\/\" target=\"_blank\">Autry, Hanrahan, Hall &amp; Cook, LLP<\/a> | May 7, 2016<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Cowart v. Schevitz<\/em>, the Georgia Court of Appeals clarified the instances in which an out-of-possession landlord can be liable in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-supreme-court-holds-pollution-exclusion-applicable-to-lead-paint-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\">premises liability claim<\/a>. No. A15A2036, 2016 WL 563114, at *4 (Ga. Ct. App. Feb. 15, 2016).<\/p>\n<p>In this case, the plaintiff was leaving a restaurant and injured herself stepping down off of a sidewalk near the bottom of a ramp.\u00a0 The plaintiff filed a premises liability claim against the owner of commercial property (the \u201clandlord\u201d) and the operator of the restaurant (who later settled), seeking medical expenses and costs of litigation.\u00a0 An <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adviseandconsult.net\/experts.php\" target=\"_blank\">expert testifying<\/a> on behalf of the plaintiff stated that the ramp was required to have railings pursuant to building codes and, had the railings been installed on the ramp, the plaintiff\u2019s fall more than likely would not have occurred.\u00a0 The landlord moved for summary judgment, arguing that as an out-of-possession landlord, his liability to third persons for the use of the property by his tenant was precluded under O.C.G.A. \u00a7 44-7-14.\u00a0 The trial court denied the motion without comment, and the owner subsequently appealed.<\/p>\n<p>The landlord leased the property to the operator of the restaurant.\u00a0 Under the lease agreement, the lessee would maintain the physical condition of the property and perform all maintenance, while the lessor was to approve any additional physical changes and had the right to inspect the property at any time.<\/p>\n<p>The plaintiff argued that since the owner was required to approve any changes, it maintained possession of the property and was liable for her injuries.\u00a0 The Court disagreed, noting that landlords will be deemed out-of-possession even when they retain limited entry or inspection rights for landlord-related purposes.\u00a0 However, if the landlord does, in fact, inspect the property, it must repair any unsafe conditions which discovered or should have been discovered by the inspection.\u00a0 Although the landlord could inspect the property at any time, according to the terms of the lease, Court held that he was an out-of-possession landlord.<\/p>\n<p>Under O.C.G.A. \u00a7 44-7-14, an out-of-possession landlord is liable for damages to third parties if the damages arise from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-defects-defective-plans-and-specifications\/\" target=\"_blank\">construction defects<\/a> or the failure to keep the premises in repair.\u00a0 The Court stated that, generally, such liability exists only when the structure is built by the landlord or under its supervision or direction.\u00a0 An exception exists, however, when the premises is defectively constructed by a predecessor in title and the landlord knew or \u201cby the exercise of reasonable diligence could have known of its improper construction before the tenancy was created . . . if the person sustaining the injuries could not have avoided the same by exercising ordinary care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In this case, the ramp was built by a prior lessee who did not obtain approval from the landlord.\u00a0 In this case, the landlord can be held liable only for the defects that would have been discovered during a pre-purchase building inspection.\u00a0 The Court stated, an \u201cout of possession landlord is not liable for all defects because ordinary care in the fulfillment of the landlord\u2019s duty to keep the premises in repair does not embrace an affirmative duty to make such an inspection of the premises as will disclose the existence of any and all latent defects.\u201d\u00a0 As a result, the Court held that the landlord was not liable under O.C.G.A. \u00a7 44-7-14 because he did not construct the ramp, and it was not constructed under his supervision or direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chadd Reynolds. | Autry, Hanrahan, Hall &amp; Cook, LLP | May 7, 2016 In Cowart v. Schevitz, the Georgia Court of Appeals clarified the instances in which an out-of-possession landlord can be liable in a premises liability claim. No. A15A2036, 2016 WL 563114, at *4 (Ga. Ct. App. Feb. 15, 2016). In this case, the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/georgia-court-clarifies-landlord-liability-for-construction-defects\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Georgia Court Clarifies Landlord Liability for Construction Defects<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,8782],"tags":[19,420,9260,361,9259],"class_list":["post-889242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-defects","category-personal-injury","tag-construction-defects-2","tag-georgia","tag-landlord-liability","tag-personal-injury","tag-premises-liability","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Georgia Court Clarifies Landlord Liability for Construction Defects - Advise &amp; 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