13 S.E.2d 779 | Ga. | 1941
1. The responsibility of a landlord for damages from personal injuries to a tenant or his invitee, for failure to repair a latent defect in the premises before leasing it, is not absolute, but is predicable only on his knowledge of the defect and consequent necessity for repairs. This knowledge need not be actual, and the landlord is equally liable if the facts be such that by the exercise of ordinary care in the performance of his obligation to keep the premises in repair he ought to have know of a latent defect therein.
2. When in such a case the trial judge sustains a demurrer in substance that the petition fails to show sufficient notice of the defect to impose liability on the landlord, and the plaintiff acquiesces therein by filing an amendment, but the amendment does not add any new and material fact in reference to such notice, it is proper to dismiss the action in accordance with the ruling on the demurrer.
3. The Court of Appeals erred in reversing the judgment dismissing the action.
The responsibility of a landlord in a case of the present character for failure to repair a latent defect in the premises before leasing it, under the Code, § 61-111, is not absolute, but it predicable only on his knowledge of the defect and the consequent necessity for *751
repairs. This knowledge may, of course, be constructive as well as actual; for the landlord can not, merely by remaining ignorant of the facts out of which his duty arises, exempt himself from responsibility. Accordingly, if the facts be such that by the exercise of ordinary care in the performance of his obligation to keep the premises in repair he ought to have known of a latent defect therein, he becomes answerable in damages to the tenant, or one entering under the authority of the tenant, for personal injuries sustained by reason of such defect. Ocean SteamshipCo. v. Hamilton,
Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.