The quick answer – it depends. The first place to look is the lease agreement between the commercial tenant and the property owner. If the lease says nothing about whose responsibility it is to keep the parking lot free of danger, then, generally, the responsibility rests with the property owner because the parking lot is considered a common area and common areas are the responsibility of the property owner. If both the tenant and the property owner have agreed the tenant is responsible for maintaining the parking lot, then the tenant now has to hold up its end of the bargain, and they will be liable if they do not keep the parking lot safe and someone is hurt.
Often however, the answer is fact-specific. If the tenant, or anyone else, undertakes, either gratuitously or for some sort of consideration, to maintain the parking lot, fails to exercise reasonable care and someone gets hurt as a result, then the tenant may be liable. This same notion applies to independent companies hired to maintain common parking lots.
Remember, this is just a small example of the many varying factors that will go into who is liable for the injuries sustained in a slip and fall and may not apply to the specific facts of another case.
For a recent decision regarding duties held by the property owner and the tenant in a case involving a parking lot, see Gamble v. Beck, et. al., Case No. 15-0269 (C.P. Lycoming Jan. 6, 2015 Gray, J.).
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