Landlord and Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

questions & answers

Question: Whose is responsible for items owned by tenant that are damaged while using laundry facility provided by the landlord, that are supposedly subleased through a third party?

Answer: This is a somewhat difficult question to answer without knowing all the relevant details. As a general rule, however, if the laundry facility is provided to the tenants of a building by the landlord as part of the rental agreement, then the landlord may be responsible. (If the landlord believes that the third-party owner of the machines in the laundry facility should pay for any damages incurred by the landlord in compensating a tenant whose property was ruined, then the landlord can always take action to receive his/her own compensation from that third party.) It is also possible that by using the facility the tenant automatically impliedly waives any right to claim compensation for harm to personal property. (This would be a matter of contract law, rather than landlord-tenant law.) Ideally, the tenant and the landlord will come to a mutually acceptable arrangement, but, regardless, the tenant would be wise to take photos and/or video of the damaged items (for evidence) and send a signed dated letter to the landlord describing the problem (in a detailed and itemized way) and requesting compensation.