§ 42-53. Same—Determination of responsibility.

The person responsible for the condition of any premises is the person using or occupying such premises. In case no person is using or occupying the premises, the person who by law is entitled to the immediate possession of such premises is responsible. In case the premises are used or occupied by two or more tenants of a common landlord, or from grounds appurtenant to a house occupied by two or more tenants of a common landlord, then the landlord shall be responsible. Each tenant, however, is responsible for that part of the premises which he occupies to the exclusion of the other tenants. In case the premises are occupied by a tenant under a yearly or monthly tenancy, or under a lease for not more than a year, or under any lease whereby the lessor is expressly or impliedly obligated to keep the premises in repair, and the nuisance is due to the disrepair of the building, or buildings or to any natural quality of the premises, or to any condition that existed at the time when the tenant entered into possession, or to anything done on the premises by the landlord during the existence of the tenancy or lease, then in such case the landlord is the person responsible.

(Code 1981, § 11-3)