38 A.2d 668 | Conn. | 1944
The defendant owned a two-family house which was divided vertically into two separate units or tenements. One of these was occupied by the plaintiff's mother under a month-to-month lease. Within the tenement was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor. While the plaintiff was descending the stairs, one of the treads broke, owing to its defective condition, causing her to fall and receive the injuries to recover for which she brought this action. The jury returned a verdict in her favor. The defendant has appealed from the denial of its motion to set the verdict aside, and also from the judgment. *188
The ground of claimed recovery most stressed by the plaintiff is that the defendant had reserved control of the premises for the purpose of making repairs and that it was, therefore, obligated reasonably to inspect them and to use reasonable care to remedy any defects which might endanger the safety of the tenants. The only evidence of such a reservation of control is to the effect that on two occasions, when rent was paid, the attention of employees of the defendant was called to the defective condition of the stairs and promises were made that they would be repaired, and that the defendant did in fact make repairs to the stairway and to certain other portions of the premises after the accident. We have held evidence of this nature to be admissible in an action against the owner of premises for personal injuries suffered by a defective condition in them as relevant to the issue whether he had retained control of the portion where the defect was located. Vinci v. O'Neill,
The instant case presents a very different situation from that before us in the cases above cited, for the stairway in question was entirely within and an integral *189
part of the leased premises. "Ordinarily a landowner, at least where he has made no agreement to repair, is not liable for injuries due to defective conditions arising upon the leased premises during the tenancy; he has surrendered possession and control of them to the tenant and has no right to enter to abate the conditions; and it is the tenant who is liable for injury arising from them." Hahn v. Musante, Berman Steinberg Co., Inc.,
The plaintiff also claims a right to recover upon the ground that at the beginning of the tenancy the defect in the stairway was such that the defendant, as landlord, was bound to give warning of it. See Gallagher v. Button,
In order that a tenant may hold a landlord liable for injuries due to a defect existing in the premises at the time of the leasing, it must appear that the former did not himself know of it or would not have discovered it by a reasonable inspection. Gallagher v. Button, supra; Doyle v. Union Pacific Ry. Co.,
The trial court was in error in denying the motion to set the verdict aside. There is no need to consider the appeal from the judgment.
There is error, the judgment is set aside and a new trial is ordered.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.