An Overview of Occupiers Liability

An Overview of Occupiers Liability

An Overview of Occupiers Liability

Occupiers liability refers to the responsibilities which the occupier of land or buildings needs to make sure the safety of people who come onto the land. The occupier and the owner are not necessarily the same person, the law will consider someone to be an occupier if they exercise a sufficient degree of control over the property. For example, this can include a tenant or lodger as well as an owner. Whereas the owner has no control over the property or the risks which it contains, they arel not an occupier. Say for instance, if a building is owned by a company but that company has granted a 100 year lease to another company, the owner will have very little influence over the property.

The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 states that the occupier of premises has a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure that visitors to the premises are safe. This Act only applies to visitors and these are defined as people who are on the premises at the occupier's invitation and with their permission. This would include any guests and it also includes those people who are presumed to have the occupier's permission to be on the premises. For example, postmen and milkmen are considered visitors and if they are injured because the occupier has not taken steps to ensure that the garden path is sufficiently safe, they will be protected under the Act. There is also a risk that where the occupier knows that people are persistently trespassing on his land, but makes no attempt to prevent this, the law will assume that they have consented to the trespassers' presence and they become visitors under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957.

Someone who comes onto a property as a visitor can become a trespasser if the occupier no longer consents to their presence, in this case they cease to be entitled to the protection of the Act. This situation could arise if a guest enters a part of the property where they are not entitled to be. Where an occupier fails to discharge their duty under the Occupiers Liability Act they are guilty of negligence and if the visitor is injured they will be able to claim compensation.

The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 applies to all persons who are not visitors and in practice this means that it sets out the duty of care which an occupier owes to trespassers. The duty of care imposed by this Act is much narrower than the duty of care under the 1957 Act. The occupier is only liable if they knows of a existing risk and believes that trespassers might come into the vicinity of the risk. The occupier is only required to guard against the risk if it would be reasonable for them to do so in the circumstances and when deciding what is reasonable a court will take into consideration:

Whether the trespass is foreseeable

Whether the risk is hidden or obvious

Whether the risk or danger would result in serious injury

The nature of the trespass (i.e. is the trespasser a burglar or an accidental trespasser)

POST COMMENT

An Overview to the Cheltenham betting 2011 High Temperature Adhesive Overview Glossy Black Cockatoo - An Overview The Floribunda Rose - An Overview Local Chat Line - Best On-line Courting Providers: An Overview Indeshaw Adenaw – Ethiopia: A Brief Overview The Finest Fatburning Furnace Overview The Magic of Making Up Overview - How To Make Your Ex Want You Back? DePuy hip recall – An Overview Garmin Fishfinder 140-Overview Premise Liability Cases - An Overview An Overview of p90x workout schedule Vita Vee's Ultra Spinnable Minis: A Good Overview