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Commercial Leasing Law & StrategyFeaturesCommercial LitigationLandlord Tenant LawLitigation

Common-Area Risk Abatement: Who is Responsible?

By Janice G. Inman

What amount of common-area premises liability is a single leaseholder in a multi-unit commercial property expected to shoulder? The question arises when customers, employees and others invited to or simply passing by a leased commercial property are injured, and want compensation. Who will be on the hook for the costs of bodily injury and property damage — the landlord, the tenant, the maintenance and security contractor hired by them, or some combination of these?

Most commercial leases will designate who — landlord or tenant — must maintain and secure common areas. When there are many tenants, the landlord logically has more overall control of the common areas, so the landlord generally bears ultimate responsibility for ensuring these spaces are safe and secure from hazards. But this is by no means a universal certainty. The lease may allocate some of the potential liability to the tenant, and the law of the jurisdiction in which the property lies also may weigh in with its own considerations.

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