Building Codes?

Question

I live in the state of New York (Upstate)...I live in a apartment. Which is a house with 2 apartment, one upstairs one down stairs. There is only one entrance to get into the apartments...which is also your exit as well. But before you can enter the apartment...You have to go on the porch. The porch used to have two post/banister. One of them has been broken for many months. And the owner/landlord haven’t fix it yet, he just laid it alongside of the porch. I understand he has lot of iron in the fire(other things to do)such as take care of the other houses and apartments he has. Because I know he owns a lot of buildings and stuff. But it would only take 10-15 of his time to fix. A few mornings ago. I was coming down the steps, and happened to slip on some ice/snow. I could of have some support if the post/banister was there, but which it wasn’t, and in result of that. I broke my arm. Is that my fault. Would that be the landlord responsibility to fix that or was that the tenants responsibility ?

Answer 1

I'm not one to sue people for my falling down. Certainly the house should be kept up to decent standards and not having a banister around stairs that can ice doesn't seem like to smart a move for a landlord. If you have health insurance and it did not cause you much monetary damage, I would pursue this in a friendly manner.

Send a letter to the landlord stating what happened and that the banister needs to be fixed in a reasonable amount of time so you don't fall again. If you want, send him your medical bills. If you are so inclined or in need of $$ to cover the bills, talk with an attorney.

I have liability insurance on all my properties, but I also have a property management company that handles all complaints promptly. Provided people complain in a timely fashion, there haven't been any issues.

Hope that helps some!

Joe...

Answer 2

Landlords responsibility to fix the banister railing and your arm.