DFW Landlords: Shift Happens & Tenants Can Sue

Foundation Repair Notes For DFW Landlords

Shift Happens! Your home and rental properties are some of the biggest investments you’ll make in a lifetime. Shift happens when the ground beneath your home becomes unstable due to weather, earthquakes or earth movements, local extraction (mining), mudslides or even just years of weight bearing under your home.

DFW Landlords: Shift Happens & Tenants Can Sue

Landlords face an extra risk when severe foundation problems affect the living conditions of a rental property. Sloping floors, cracks and other symptoms of foundation shift make your rental worth less to renters, affecting your bottom line. Even scarier, tenants CAN sue you if they get injured by a sloped floor or other foundation issue.

Foundation Problems on The Rise

Pay close attention to your buildings foundations, even in new homes. According to The New York Times (NYT) shifting soil is a very real threat with increased numbers of homes being affected in recent years. “Extreme weather possibly linked to climate change, as well as construction on less stable ground, have provoked unprecedented foundation failures in houses nationwide”.

Homeowners are spending a billion more dollars per year on foundation fixes than they were 10 years ago, reports NYT. Though there has been a tremendous increase in housing development as well.

Symptoms of Foundation Problems:

  • Doors & windows are difficult to open/close
  • Cracks in ceilings/walls/chimneys
  • Strange creaking noises
  • Floor cracks
  • Gaps & spacing between floors and walls
  • Sloping floors

Is a Texas Landlord Obligated to Make Repairs?

It depends on the severity of the situation. Loud creaking noises and bathroom doors that don’t shut are not really a health issue. But if your tenant falls and breaks their neck due to a sloping floor, or if the home separates from the concrete porch and someone breaks their ankle, the short answer is yes, you will be held responsible. Learn more about Texas tenant rights here.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you suspect a foundation problem. Shift happens and it’s not a matter of if, but of when. Whether your unit is built on a pier and beam foundation, or a concrete slab foundation, Steady House Foundation Repair is the right company to handle your rental foundation problems.

Related Reading:

Is Landlord in Texas Obligated to Make Repairs?

Steady House Foundation Repair / Dallas Fort Worth