What to Do if You’re Injured on a Property with Building Code Violations

Building codes are sets of rules that specify the standards for designing, constructing, altering, and maintaining buildings. Buildings must conform to these codes in order to obtain planning permissions and occupancy permits.

Most states follow the codes maintained by the International Code Council (ICC), which includes codes for new buildings, residential buildings, and existing buildings.

Property owners are required to keep their buildings up to code to ensure the safety of legal tenants and visitors. Below, our San Jose personal injury attorneys discuss what to do if you are injured on a property with building code violations.

Common Building Code Violations

There are many building codes and, as such, several violations that often occur. Some of the most common building code violations include:

• Handrails that do not turn and end into the wall
• Bathrooms that do not have proper venting
• Smoke alarms absent from each level of the building or outside each bedroom

Proving the Property Owner’s Negligence

If your injury was caused by a building code violation, you and an experienced personal injury attorney will need to prove the following key elements of a premises liability claim:

• Duty of care: The property owner had a responsibility to exercise reasonable care in preventing harm to others and keeping the property safe.
• Breach of duty: The property owner breached their duty by failing to heed building code violations, either intentionally or unintentionally.
• Cause: The property owner’s breach of duty directly caused your accident.
• Damages: You have verifiable injuries supported by medical records and lost wage statements.

In this situation, it’s in your best interest to contact an experienced attorney who is well-versed in this area of law in order to increase your likelihood of recovering compensation.

Our San Jose personal injury lawyers have recovered millions for clients who have been injured on unsafe properties, and we’re here to help you, too.

Contact Caputo and Van Der Walde – Injury & Accident Attorneys today at (800) 900-0863 to schedule a free consultation with our team.