Apartment buildings require regular maintenance in order to maintain safety for their residents. If you experience an injury after falling on the stairs in your apartment complex, it’s important to take action as quickly as possible in order to protect your health and your rights.

What to Do If You Fall on Your Apartment’s Stairs

Apartment complexes could have dozens of flights of stairs, especially in large buildings with hundreds of residents. A slip-and-fall accident could leave you with considerable injuries. If this happens to you, consider contacting a personal injury lawyer in order to protect your rights.

Document the Conditions

Take photos of the stairway where you fell. Pay close attention to any debris on the steps. If there is a puddle of water, document it in your photos. Be sure to look around and to take photos of any other problem spots, such as light fixtures with missing or burned-out bulbs. These photos may help to support your claims for damages if you have to file a lawsuit and take your landlords to court.

Consider the Circumstances

Even the best building maintenance cannot supervise the stairs all of the time. Consider whether another resident may have recently caused the dangerous conditions on the stairway. For example, someone could have just spilled his or her water bottle or could have dropped a bag of groceries while going to or from an apartment unit. Even if the stairs were checked in the morning, by the afternoon there could be a mess, causing slippery conditions.

Ask for the Building’s Maintenance Records

Many apartment complexes keep detailed records of all of the cleaning and repairs that take place. If you suspect that the building’s owners are negligent in caring for the steps, make a request for their records. Your attorney may have to do this on your behalf. If the stairs are uneven, crumbling or have parts falling off, it’s possible that the owners have not been maintaining the property well. Obtaining this information could be helpful to your case if you need to make a claim for your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.