Have you ever slipped on leaked water in a rental property?
As surprising as it sounds, these types of accidents are fairly common nowadays! Even in your home, an accident like this is likely to have shaken you up quite a bit. Whether you’ve sustained cuts and bruises or broken bones its likely you’ll be able to make a claim for your injuries.
What can cause this type of accident?
In rented properties where electrical appliances and bathroom / kitchen fittings are already pre-installed before you move in, then you really don’t know who else has been using these appliances, and how much wear and tear they have gained. Because of this, it’s really difficult to tell whether something is faulty and likely to leak. Therefore if an appliance or fittings do happen to leak, we could investigate a claim for you.
What if I slipped in leaked water in a rented house that wasn’t my home?
It goes without saying that this would only apply to invited visitors. So if you were visiting the home of your friend, family member or even if it was a home appointment, you could still be entitled to make a claim. However, in regards to the law, the legislation on which your claim is based on would be slightly different. As you were a visitor, your claim would likely be based on the law set out in the Occupiers’ Liability Act. This basically sets out that occupiers should be vigilant and take all reasonable steps possible, including risk strategies, to prevent an incident – And that occupiers ‘have a common duty of care for visitors’ and that they should remain safe there whilst visiting for the purposes intended.
Would my Personal Injury Claim be against the Landlord?
Normally, yes. However, in most circumstances it is likely that your Landlord and their insurer are likely to deny liability based on the possibility that they had no way of knowing there were defective appliances or fittings in your home, so they could not be at fault for your accident.
However, if you happened to notice the appliance or fitting was faulty and leaking before your accident and reported it to your Landlord, then you would have a much stronger claim for yourself, based on the fact that the defect would have been known to them, and your accident occurred due to the fact that they failed to take reasonable steps to fix, repair or replace the appliance or fitting.
Your claim could also be based on the law set out in the Defective Premises Act 1972. This basically sets out that the tenant of a residential property can bring a claim under the Act if the defect was present when the dwelling was completed.
So, whether you were a permitted visitor or the accident happened in your own home, either way if it was a rental property the accident took place in, call The Injury Lawyers today on 0800 634 75 75 to find out if you can claim!
