Occupiers Liability Claims Legal Guide

For the purposes of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957, an occupier is a person (or ‘persons’) who wields sufficient control over the premises to be responsible for rectifying any defects in the property that they are aware of or ought to be aware of.

Note that we refer to ‘person or persons’. There may be several occupiers of a premises, either permanently or temporarily. An example of temporary occupancy of premises could be when a firm of building contractors is hired to carry out renovations or other building work on the premises. During the time the contractors are carrying out work at the premises, they are likely to be a ‘person’ exercising sufficient control over the premises to be considered an ‘occupier’.

So, the owner of the premises is not always the sole occupier, and, in some cases, the owner may not be considered an occupier. For instance,  when premises are leased, the tenancy agreement may stipulate that the tenant becomes responsible for the repair and maintenance of the premises. In such cases, the tenant could become the sole ‘occupier’ during the duration of the tenancy. It will depend on the precise terms of the tenancy agreement.

Companies, local authorities, or other public bodies and organisations responsible for the upkeep of premises may be occupiers, either solely or in conjunction with others, which may or may not include the owner.

Note: As you will have gathered from the above section, finding out the identity of an occupier of premises where an accident occurred due to property defects is not always straightforward. An experienced firm of personal injury solicitors used to handling Occupiers liability Claims will be able to advise you against whom the claim should be brought.

The definition of the word ‘premises’ for the purposes of bringing an Occupiers Liability Claim is a broad one. It includes land, buildings, vessels, vehicles and aircraft. (Occupiers Liability Act 1957, section 1(2).

To be a ‘lawful visitor’ to the premises, you must be able to show that you have:

1. Actual permission – i.e. you were specifically invited to be on the premises. An example would be if you had a pre-arranged business appointment at the premises.
2. Implied permission – this definition can become a little blurred, but generally comes down to an assumption that a person has permission to be on the premises.

For instance, the purpose of a shopping centre is that it is open to visitors who want to visit shops in the centre, whether to browse or buy from them or visit cafés and restaurants in the centre. Visitors have implied permission to be on the premises for the purposes for which a shopping centre exists.

An exception to this would be if the occupier has specifically barred an individual from visiting the premises due to previous antisocial behaviour whilst on the premises.

Likewise, suppose a visitor to the centre decides not to leave at the designated closing time and hides out of sight until the premises have been locked up for the night. In that case, they immediately become an unauthorised visitor or, in other words, a trespasser.

3. Lawful right of entry – Examples of visitors with a lawful right to enter the premises include police officers, firefighters, and paramedics attending the premises to perform their duties.

Slip and fall accidents occur when a lawful visitor to the occupiers premises slips and falls due to a slippery floor, uneven flooring, loose mats or rugs, dusty surfaces, or icy floors. Accidents of this type can happen indoors or outdoors. Liability will attach to the occupier if they are aware of the hazard but have done nothing to remedy the situation, have failed to provide clear signs to warn visitors of the danger or cordon off the area surrounding the defect.

Trip and fall accidents happen when a person trips over an obstacle or hazard on the property, such as a loose tile, exposed wiring, or a defective carpet, falls down poorly maintained staircases, or trips and falls in a car park with inadequate lighting.

Falling objects from height accidents occur when an object falls from a height and injures a visitor to the premises. An example of this could be collapsing shelves, work tools falling from scaffolding, and debris falling from the roof of the building.

Accidents caused by inadequate maintenance of the premises result from the failure of the property owner to maintain the premises in a safe condition. Examples include tripping accidents caused by a failure to keep the premises free of clutter or tripping over the edge of a carpet that has become raised due to wear and tear.

Dog bite or animal attack accidents happen when a person is bitten or attacked by a dog or other animal while a visitor to the property.

Swimming pool accidents can occur when accidents happen in or around swimming pools due to inadequate safety measures or a lack of supervision.

Faulty equipment accidents result from accidents caused by defective or poorly maintained equipment on the property, such as damaged playground equipment or faulty gym equipment.

Fire or electrical accidents involve injuries caused by fires that start due to worn-out sockets that haven’t been properly earthed or wiring that breaks. Accidents of this nature usually occur due to a lack of routine maintenance inspections.

A trespasser is someone who:

1. Has no legal right to be on the premises
2. Has not been invited to the premises
3. Has no implied permission to be on the premises – such as the person who stays behind after a shopping centre closes. In the example provided, the person strayed from being a lawful visitor to an unlawful visitor or trespasser when the shopping centre closed with them still inside the building.

Trespassers may be persons in or on premises who know they have no right to be there or accidental trespassers who don’t realise they shouldn’t be on the premises.

The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 addresses whether an occupier owes a duty of care to trespassers, and Section 1(3) of this Act of Parliament provides the answer. In a nutshell:

1. An occupier of premises owes a duty of care to trespassers on their premises if:
2. The occupier knows or ‘has reasonable belief’ there is a risk to the safety of trespassers on their premises.
3. The occupier knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that the unlawful visitor is, or may stray into, the area of danger.
4. Knowing all the circumstances, the occupier should have reasonably foreseen the existing risk and taken action to avoid the trespasser getting injured.

So, occupiers owe a duty of care to trespassers, but only if certain conditions are met, i.e., the occupier knows or ought to know there is an existing risk.

Contrast this with the duty of care owed to lawful visitors, which is ‘a duty of care to all their lawful visitors, to take such care as is reasonable, to ensure the visitor will be reasonably safe.’

There are defences to Occupiers Liability Claims, and these are:

1. Volenti non fit injuria – loosely translated from Latin- means the person making a claim consented to the risk of injury suffered. This may cover a case where a lawful visitor to the occupier’s premises decides to undertake an activity on the premises despite the occupier warning them it would be dangerous, and the visitor suffers injury.
2. Contributory negligence – where the visitor’s actions contribute to the injuries they suffer, albeit the occupier was still liable for the accident in the first place. A finding by a court of contributory negligence only reduces the compensation the visitor who makes the claim will receive.
3. The occupier has taken reasonable steps to warn visitors of any dangers and clearly communicated the risks to them.