Is the Landlord Responsible for Criminal Activity of a Tenant?

Full question:

Is there any way to hold a landlord responsible for his tenants actions? Are they required to rent to people who will not disrupt the neighborhood with gang activity, theft ect? The landlord continues to ignore all the police reports and lets them live there. Can we hold the landlord responsible for our damages caused by theft from home by his tenant

• Category: Landlord Tenant
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Iowa

Answer:

A landlord is generally not liable for the criminal acts of a tenant. If the landlord is aware of circumstances that pose a threat to the other tenants, such as police reports of criminal activity, it is possible that the landlord has a duty to protect tenants by taking measures appropriate to the circumstances. Often, cases center on the landlord providing adequate lighting and locks. Landlords have at least some degree of legal responsibility to protect their tenants from the assault, theft, and criminal acts of fellow tenants.

Landlords must also protect the neighborhood from their tenants' illegal activities, such as drug dealing. These legal duties are based on building codes, ordinances, statutes, and, most frequently, court decisions, called the common law. A tenant may be evicted for activities which pose a danger to others.

For further discussion, please see:

http://realestate.findlaw.com/tenant/tenant-safety/landlord-crime.html

Please see the following Iowa statute:

562A.27A Termination for creating a clear and present danger to others.

1. Notwithstanding section 562A.27 or 648.3, if a tenant has created or
maintained a threat constituting a clear and present danger to the health
or safety of other tenants, the landlord, the landlord's employee or agent,
or other persons on or within one thousand feet of the landlord's property,
the landlord, after the service of a single three days' written notice of
termination and notice to quit stating the specific activity causing the
clear and present danger, and setting forth the language of subsection 3
which includes certain exemption provisions available to the tenant, may
file suit against the tenant for recovery of possession of the premises
pursuant to chapter 648, except as otherwise provided in subsection 3. The
petition shall state the incident or incidents giving rise to the notice of
termination and notice to quit. The tenant shall be given the opportunity
to contest the termination in the court proceedings by notice thereof at
least three days prior to the hearing.

2. A clear and present danger to the health or safety of other tenants,
the landlord, the landlord's employees or agents, or other persons on or
within one thousand feet of the landlord's property includes, but is not
limited to, any of the following activities of the tenant or of any person
on the premises with the consent of the tenant:

a. Physical assault or the threat of physical assault.

b. Illegal use of a firearm or other weapon, the threat to use a firearm
or other weapon illegally, or possession of an illegal firearm.

c. Possession of a controlled substance unless the controlled substance
was obtained directly from or pursuant to a valid prescription or order by
a licensed medical practitioner while acting in the course of the
practitioner's professional practice. This paragraph applies to any other
person on the premises with the consent of the tenant, but only if the
tenant knew of the possession by the other person of a controlled
substance.

3. This section shall not apply to a tenant if the activities causing the
clear and present danger, as defined in subsection 2, are conducted by a
person on the premises other than the tenant and the tenant takes at least
one of the following measures against the person conducting the activities:

a. The tenant seeks a protective order, restraining order, order to
vacate the homestead, or other similar relief pursuant to chapter 236, 598,
664A, or 915, or any other applicable provision which would apply to the
person conducting the activities causing the clear and present danger.

b. The tenant reports the activities causing the clear and present danger
to a law enforcement agency or the county attorney in an effort to initiate
a criminal action against the person conducting the activities.

c. The tenant writes a letter to the person conducting the activities
causing the clear and present danger, telling the person not to return to
the premises and that a return to the premises may result in a trespass or
other action against the person, and the tenant sends a copy of the letter
to a law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction includes the premises. If
the tenant has previously written a letter to the person as provided in
this paragraph, without taking an action specified in paragraph "a" or "b"
or filing a trespass or other action, and the person to whom the letter was
sent conducts further activities causing a clear and present danger, the
tenant must take one of the actions specified in paragraph "a" or "b" to be
exempt from proceedings pursuant to subsection 1.

However, in order to fall within the exemptions provided within this
subsection, the tenant must provide written proof to the landlord, prior to
the commencement of a suit against the tenant, that the tenant has taken
one of the measures specified in paragraphs "a" through "c".