Can A Property Owner Disclaim Responsibility For Complying With Accessibility Guidelines?

In addition to renting units, many apartment owners/managers rent space for commercial enterprises (such as restaurants and stores) in their properties. Which can make good sense for both – providing a needed service or store with a ready-made group of people living extremely close by. All good, right?

But, remember that when you lease space to a commercial vendor and that tenant modifies the space for a restaurant and/or shop – make sure that the renovated site conforms with the accessibility guidelines in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). While a landlord and a commercial tenant are certainly free to apportion costs as they see fit (including an indemnification clause) – if a disabled individual sues, both the landlord and commercial tenant will be named as defendants and the plaintiff will seek what is known as joint and several liability against them.  An otherwise responsible party will most likely not be able to avoid liability to a plaintiff by simply