I have a tenant who has a son that has been in and out of the hospital for quite some time. He is finally coming home at the end of the month and will be in a wheelchair. He is fighting bone cancer and though the wheelchair isnt permanent, it may be necessary for sometime.
The state has agreed to provide assistance and install a handicap ramp on the house. They wont get to that for about 2 months. Meanwhile, a friend of this tenant is building a ramp that will fit onto the 4 cement stairs leading up to the porch. Luckily they live on the first floor.
How do I approach this and avoid a liability disaster? What else do I need to consider?
If you know about it you could be liable
You did not say if you gave permission or if this will be temporary until state builds one.
If you know about it you could be liable during construction or after if not built to code if someone gets hurt. How do you deal with this without looking like an uncaring landlord. The proper way is to tell landlord it has to be done by a licensed and insured contractor and get a permit.
I myself would do the following.
For a small project like this risk is small during construction, I myself would act like I assumed the tenant had a insured licensed contractor to do the work. I think most risk is down the road if not to code or strong enough and someone gets hurt. As a contractor I would be able to tell if not built strong enough. so I would be OK. If I were not positive I would pay a small fee to a licensed contractor or better yet call a building inspector. Tell him you don’t know how to handle without looking uncaring or like you are causing a handicap person more problems. Yes it would be like reporting yourself for work without a permit on your property. He most likely will just go by and see if it is up to code. Ask him if he goes by not to mention you called. Worst case he goes by and not up to code, you tell tenant someone else must have called and tenant gets friend to do it right.
Give them a copy of the code to give to the person building the ramp, Just tell them that you just want the ramp to be built safe and that you are just looking out for their son’s safety. You should not have to lie in order to not appear as insensitive.
My father and I built a ramp last winter for my son and it turned out great. As long as they follow the code and use proper materials, it should be ok. BUT, with that said, it sounds like they just want a quick fix just to last until the state can get involved. They probably do not want to go out of pocket to much on this project, so they may do shoddy work with the cheapest materials possible. Instead of seeking a lawyer, put that money toward the project, that way you insure their safety and get respect from your tenants. This is just a suggestion and I don’t know if you will be anymore protected, but it would cut down on the chances of someone getting hurt. Good luck
May be you can approch state and ask for reemersment after you do a perm. ramp yourself. I would think they would go for it. This way it is build correctly from start. You may want to tell your insurance company about this addition as well.