Upstairs apartments in century-old buildings come with original stairs, narrow landings and sometimes a single way out. Those are liability and safety questions that a tenant lives with daily.
A guest injured on the stairs to your unit may be your liability, the owner’s, or both.
Three things about an old building with one way out.
Common stairs and landings are usually the owner’s to maintain. Whether a guest injured on them has a claim against the owner, against you, or against both depends on the circumstances and on what you knew. Your liability cover is what answers your share, and the limit is usually whatever the lease demanded.
A single exit, a blocked back stair or a window that will not open is worth raising in writing with the owner immediately. It is a habitability matter, and documenting that you raised it protects you in more ways than one.
Owners generally must provide them and tenants should not disable them. Beyond the legal position, in an old timber-framed building the alarm is the thing that gets you down the stairs. It is worth testing rather than assuming.
Cover for an older building.
Guest injuries on shared stairs are a real exposure.
Worth testing and worth documenting.
A fire in an old building displaces everyone in it.
Tell us about the building, which floor you are on and what the lease requires.
We set the liability for shared stairs, not just your front door.
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