In most states and jurisdictions, landlord responsibilities cover, at least to some degree, protection of their tenants. This protection responsibility may impose a legal duty on the landlord to take steps to protect their tenants from thieves, assailants, and criminal acts from other tenants.
In addition to this responsibility to the tenants, landlords may also be partially responsible for protecting the surrounding community from criminal acts of their tenants. For example, some states have codes and statutes that impose liability on landlords for renting property to drug dealers.
In increasing numbers, landlords are being brought to court by tenants that have been injured by criminals while in their rental properties. Settlements from these cases often reach into the millions of dollars, especially when a similar assault or crime occurred on the same rental property in the past.