Page 25-12 Ethics and Compliance in Action Disclosing Possible Hazards to Tenants Suppose you own an older home that in the past was painted with lead-based paint. You rent it to a family with three small children. A state law forbids using lead-based paint on residential property after the effective date of the statute, but it does not require owners of property with residues of lead-based paint to remove it. Should you disclose the presence of the lead-based paint to your tenants? What legal liability might you incur if you do not do so? Landlord's Liability for Injuries Resulting from Others' Criminal Conduct Another aspect of the trend toward increasing landlords' legal accountability is that many courts have imposed on landlords the duty to take reasonable steps to protect tenants and others on their property from foreseeable criminal conduct.* Although landlords are not insurers of the safety of persons on their property, an increasing number of courts have found them liable for injuries sustained by individuals who were criminally attacked on the landlord's property if the attack was facilitated by the landlord's failure to comply with housing codes or maintain reasonable security. This liability has been imposed on residential and commercial landlords (such as shopping mall owners). Some courts have held that the implied warranty of habitability includes the obligation to provide reasonable security. In most states that have imposed this type of liability, however, principles of negligence or negligence per se furnish the controlling rationale.$ In the case that follows, Tan v. Arnel Management Company, a California court applied negligence principles in holding that a landlord violated its duty of care to a tenant who was rendered a quadriplegic when shot in the course of an attempted carjacking on a common area of an apartment complex. Pape 25-13