## Facts

- Agnes Roseberry owned and leased a single-family residence to a tenant on a month-to-month basis.
- Before the tenant took possession, the house was remodeled and a new roof installed; the front roof guttering was removed and not reinstalled.
- Roseberry knew the guttering was missing and that, without it, rainwater drained onto the front porch steps and could freeze in cold weather.
- The tenant also knew the guttering was missing, knew freezing would occur on the steps, and complained to Roseberry about the resulting icy condition.
- On January 9, 1971, ice and snow were present; the tenant attempted to remove ice from the front steps.
- Gary D. Borders, a social guest of the tenant, arrived for dinner and later slipped and fell on ice on the front steps while leaving, sustaining injuries.
- Borders sued Roseberry, alleging negligence for failing to repair or remedy the known recurring icy condition.

## Issues

1. Whether a landlord of a single-family residence owes a legal duty to a tenant’s social guest to repair or remedy a known dangerous condition on the leased premises when the condition is known to both landlord and tenant.
2. Whether any recognized exception to the general rule of landlord non-liability applies to impose liability on the landlord for the guest’s injuries.

## Decision

- The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed judgment for Roseberry.
- The court held that, under Kansas landlord-tenant tort rules, a landlord of a single-family dwelling generally owes no duty to a tenant’s social guest to repair or remedy a dangerous condition on the demised premises that is known to the tenant.
- The court concluded none of the established exceptions to landlord non-liability applied on these facts.
- The court declined to modify Kansas law to create a broader duty based solely on the landlord’s knowledge of the condition.

## Legal Principles

- When premises are leased, the tenant is treated as the possessor during the lease term; responsibility for conditions on the demised premises is ordinarily placed on the tenant, and the landlord is generally not liable to the tenant or others entering the premises for defective conditions.
- Recognized exceptions that may impose landlord liability include:
  - Undisclosed latent dangers known to the landlord and unknown to the tenant.
  - Conditions dangerous to persons outside the premises.
  - Premises leased for admission to the public.
  - Areas retained under the landlord’s control that the tenant is entitled to use.
  - An express agreement by the landlord to repair.
  - Negligent repair by the landlord after undertaking repairs.
- Knowledge by both landlord and tenant of the dangerous condition, without more, does not establish landlord liability to the tenant’s social guest where the condition is on the leased premises and the landlord neither retained control nor undertook a repair obligation fitting an exception.

## Conclusion

The court held that the landlord was not liable for a tenant’s social guest’s injuries from icy steps caused by missing guttering because the hazard was on the leased premises, was known to the tenant, and did not fall within any recognized exception to the general rule that landlords of single-family dwellings have no duty to repair such conditions for the benefit of a tenant’s guests.


Borders v. Roseberry, 216 Kan. 486, 532 P.2d 1366 (Kan. 1975)