What are legal ramifications of renting my extra garage to a neighbor for a rummage sale?
Question Details:
I am a renter who rents a duplex with attached garage, plus the additional unattached garage. An older lady who lives nearby wants to rent/ use the garage to hold a rummage sale from Wed-Saturday. Are there specific legal implications- how can they be avoided? If I post signs denying liability, will that be helpful?
Signs denying liability will not help. If anyone is injured due to some condition in the garage--a crack in the paving that someone trips over; if the door is "loose" in its frame and falls on a person's head; if there is a jagged piece of wood sticking out from the frame, that stabs someone; etc.--could potentially sue you for the injury. You should not be liable for claims arising solely out of the conduct of the sale itself, if your only connection is to rent space, so if the lady happens to cheat or defraud someone, or sells some item that it turns out belongs to another, you would not be liable for that. But, as stated, you could be sued if the people who come to the sale are injured as a result of your garage or, for that matter, something else under your control (e.g. you have some tools leaning up against the side of the garage, which fall and break someone's foot).
