Property Managers have a duty of care to not only their landords but the tenants who are renting the property. Leasing a property out to a family that was previously use as a meth lab may have serious legal ramification should anybody fall ill as a result of being exposed to methamphetamine residue.
Simply saying “you were unaware the home was previously used as a meth lab” just wont stand up in court.
The Australian government defines duty of care as “an obligation to take reasonable care to avoid foreseeable harm to another person on their property.”
In 2015, landmark court cases, favoured the tenant after it was found that the property manager and owner were negligent in not applying current building codes in replacement of a door, causing injury to the tenant .
Though the landlord argued that the tenant accepted the premises as it was at the time the tenancy agreement was signed – this argument was rejected by the court as the owners and property managers must take reasonable care ‘in respect of the dangers not readily apparent on inspection.’
In summary – if a tenant was to fall ill from meth exposure – both the landlord and the property manager could be held accountable for failing their duty of care.
