Thread: am I legally liable for this?

Originally Posted by pibegotan

Am I legally liable if something happens to her or the baby due to her moving because of the house showings? (given that the doctor ordered her to be on bed rest).

I have no idea about potential liablilty, but as a matter of common decency and compassion, why is your agent badgering a badly indisposed tenant to vacate for the duration of an open house (assuming that's why she's being temporarily displaced.)?

Open houses are not crucial to selling your rental property--only a minor fraction of homes are sold to open-house viewers. If I recall the statistics correctly, open houses are more likely to bring ancillary business to your agent than to sell your house.

Regardless of the liablilty, my advice is to do the right thing and tell your agent to back off from the bad open house idea.

<edit addition> If it's not an open house, but your agent has scheduled several showings in a compact time frame in order to minimize disruption to the tenant, that's another matter, but it's still not necessary to displace the tenant. Rental houses are frequently shown with the renter in place. A tenant is typically under no obligation to vacate the premises during showings. Personally, I like showing houses with tenants in place. They are often a valuable source of information about the house and the immediate neighborhood to both cooperating agents and prospective buyers alike.

Can you be sued, should you be sued, how would it affect your reputation if you were sued, how much would it cost if you were sued & would you win if you were sued are all different questions entirely.


Can you be sued? Absolutely. You don't need a good reason or proof to sue someone. All you need is an attorney willing to take it on contingency hoping that if enough bad press gets run about it, that you'll settle out of court and he'll pocket some quick cash.


I can see the headlines now:
"Greedy landlord displaced 9 month pregnant woman, endangered her health and caused a miscarriage. Landlord & Realtor conspired together and knew that the woman was ordered to bed rest by her doctor, yet coerced her to disregard her doctor's advice so the Landlord and Realtor could potentially make a quick buck. Woman is currently in stable condition at Our Heavenly Angel Hospital, and is undergoing counseling for shock and trauma from the event. Woman was quoted as saying "Why would they force me to disregard my doctor's advice?!!?!?? ::crying:: Now I've lost my child. No amount of money is worth the loss of a child.""
etc
etc
etc

Why would you run a lady that is nine months pregant and in need of bed rest out of her home. You and your agent may not get sued, but you both should should get a good scolding. This thread is showing why landlord and agents sometime get bad press.

Put yourself in the lady's shoes.
If somethng bad happen, I'll sue you until dry....

Do us all a favor and avoid any more bad publicity. This has nightmare written all over it.

I agree with everyone else that it's a bad all around idea, PR wise, but as an attorney, I can assure you that, if she consented to go elsewhere during your open houses, then you're fine. Additionally, "bed rest" doesn't mean laying in bed 24/7. It means taking it easy, not doing anything strenuous, not working or going to work, and spending a good amount of time during the day laying down. She is easily transportable.

Again, I would personally advise against forcing, or even asking, her to move at all. If anything else, just wait a few weeks until she has the baby. But you asked if you would be legally liable for this, and the answer is likely no.