A landlord in Ohio is charged with four reckless homicide counts in the deaths of Tammy McDaniel and her three children.
The landlord, Steven Snow, was repairing a dilapidated home near Toledo and offered the lodging to McDaniel and her children, who were friends of Snow. McDaniel couldn’t afford any other rents so she agreed, even though the night she and her children died there was no heat or electricity at the property.
Snow contends that he gave McDaniel a portable space heater on March 22 when she was at the property waiting for the electricity to be turned on. He insists that he didn’t know she was going to stay the night. She and her children huddled under blankets during the night to keep warm and were discovered dead the next morning by Snow.
Each year, about 180 deaths in the U.S. are linked to carbon monoxide from appliances and small engines, like those in portable generators, running in enclosed spaces, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
This tragedy brings to light the responsibilities of landlords to have carbon monoxide detectors on properties and to avoid using any type of portable generators in small, enclosed spaces. Even with windows open, generators can produce the odorless carbon monoxide gases. Currently, there are no laws or requirements in Ohio for landlords to provide carbon monoxide detectors.
If your state DOES have carbon monoxide detector requirements, be sure to inform your tenants about their responsibilities in keeping the detectors functioning with working batteries. Download our free Carbon Monoxide Addendum to add to your rental agreements.
