Playscape at rental house, how to avoid landlord liability? (sales, leasing)

[zhezhe]

We have a rental house with a wooden playcape. The playscape is about five years old and shifted to the right side a little bit, my new tenant has two kids (7 and 5 years old). I'll try my best to fix the playscape, but don't want get into any future possible liability if anything happens. How can I avoid this? Can I put something on the leasing agreement or checklist to let the tenant accept the condition of playscape and free us from liability related to it?

Thanks.

[Exiled Texan]

Remove it. It has been many years since I took a torts class, but this sounds like something you can't waive away. I'd google "Texas law" and "attractive nuisance".

I'm not a TX lawyer nor a liability lawyer, so this is not legal advice. My common sense, risk adverse self says remove it.

[Exiled Texan]

Attractive nuisance doctrine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To make matters worse, you know it may not be safe, and you know kids will be in the yard.

[austintilelady]

Originally Posted by zhezhe

We have a rental house with a wooden playcape. The playscape is about five years old and shifted to the right side a little bit, my new tenant has two kids (7 and 5 years old). I'll try my best to fix the playscape, but don't want get into any future possible liability if anything happens. How can I avoid this? Can I put something on the leasing agreement or checklist to let the tenant accept the condition of playscape and free us from liability related to it?

Thanks.

Remove the playscape you do not want to worry another minuate about this and it is not worth it. They could sign something all day long that will not keep them from suing you. A good attorney these days to fight something like this will cost you 2500.00 to 5000.00 and months of sleepless nights your playscape is not worth it. Sell it on craiglist and take a vacation.

[atxcio]

Yeah, there is no good way to get yourself out of extra liability and risk due to the playscape. Especially given what ExiledTexan mentioned.. Perhaps even worse if you try to fix it. Just get rid of it.

Craigslist is a great suggestion; you can offer it for free and probably someone will come and do the labor to remove & haul it away. Or you could put it in storage if you think you'll move back and want it again.

If you've already gotten your tenants all excited about it, buy them some gift certificates to a park or fun center or something, and tell them you're real sorry but your lawyer said it had to go...

[MJinAustin]

Maybe you could tell them you're going to remove it because of liability, but if they want it, then you can sell it to them. Get a signed bill of sale.

Lawyers, would this absolve the owner of responsibility?

[zhezhe]

Thanks for all the advice. We are planning to remove it, but it is still a very nice playscape, so if we can do the signed bill of sales (even free) to them, that'll be nice. Can any lawyer help on this? Thanks.

[aaauger]

If it is on your property, even if they own it, it may still be your liability as the seller or as the landlord: it was defective, wasn't installed properly, was no longer level, etc.

I'm with the others: remove it. I'm a landlord and a parent who has been to the emergency room twice for playscape mishaps.

[atxcio]

You probably will have wording in your lease about upgrades and permanently installed items becoming your property even if it was purchased or installed by the tenants. So you will definitely need to talk to a lawyer first about any kind of sale, and might have to modify the standard wording of lease, which could lead to other problems. It wouldn't be worth it to me. I'd spend the money for the lawyer on the tenants if you feel bad, otherwise just save your money.

[Austin-Willy]

If you are worried about the "they can sue you for anything" theory, you should probably crawl into a shell and refuse to come out... or at least not be a landlord. You cannot escape that risk no matter what decisions you make in your life.

The question is do you want to be conservative and reduce that risk as much as possible, or are you more interested in making sure that if you are sued, you are more likely to win? Neither a lawyer nor anyone else can tell you the correct answer to that question.

If you want to reduce the risk of lawsuit at all costs, simply remove the playscape. The lower the likelihood of an injury, the lower the risk you get sued.

But whether or not you remove it, you should make sure your insurance is sufficient to cover your liabilities. You should also consider requiring the tenant to carry liability insurance.

If you do keep it, you should include as part of the lease rules that must be followed at all times while using the playscape (adults must be present, etc.). Do some research on how landlords with pools mitigate their risk and follow suit.

You should also have a lawyer prepare your lease -- whether or not you keep the playscape. The indemnity provision in the TAR leases is not sufficient to protect you. Don't rely on the fact that the lease is a "standard" form unless you simply are not concerned about protecting yourself from liability issues.

Good luck.