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- Title
INSURING JUSTICE.
- Authors
GOLD, ALLYSON E.
- Abstract
Many landlords do not carry liability insurance, which means that many residents have little chance of recovery after being harmed by dangerous housing conditions. More disabling injuries occur in homes than in workplaces and motor vehicles combined. These risks disproportionately affect low-income, minority tenants. Because state laws do not require landlords to carry liability insurance, property owners reap the financial benefits of the long-term rental housing market while passing the risk of injury and cost of harm to their tenants. In contrast, there is a growing trend among state and local jurisdictions to require hosts on platforms like Airbnb to assume the risk of harm and carry liability insurance as a prerequisite to participate in the short-term rental market. Incongruously, in many jurisdictions a temporary resident who stays in a property for twenty-nine days has greater protection than a long-term tenant who resides at the same property for more than a month. Analyzing racial bias in insurance regulations and juxtaposing statutory approaches to risk allocation, this Article posits that liability insurance coverage is properly understood as an access-to-justice issue that negatively affects the health of minority long-term renters. For long-term tenants who experience personal injury or property damage, prevailing in a case against a property owner often kickstarts the time-consuming and expensive process of attempting to collect on that judgment, and ultimately fails to provide relief. This Article argues that mandated liability coverage would align protections for long-term rental housing with those protections already in place for short-term rentals, affording permanent residents the same degree of protection as temporary visitors.
- Subjects
LIABILITY insurance; LANDLORD-tenant relations; RENTAL housing; AIRBNB Inc.; RISK (Insurance); ACCESS to justice; PERSONAL injuries (Law)
- Publication
North Carolina Law Review, 2023, Vol 101, Issue 3, p729
- ISSN
0029-2524
- Publication type
Article