Can a Landlord Sue a Tenant for Emotional Distress?

Landlord-tenant disputes aren’t a new thing in the housing market. Issues like lease term violations, property repairs and maintenance concerns, or rent payment obligations often arise and in most cases,these problems are resolved through simple communication. However, sometimes disputes escalate beyond simple disagreements, where you may experience significant emotional distress due to a tenant’s behaviour. 

In such cases, as a landlord, you may wonder if you can sue a tenant for emotional distress. After all, this is a valid concern as this can lead to serious mental health conditions.

The answer is Yes. You can sue a tenant for emotional distress only if the tenants actions are extreme, outrageous and cause serious mental suffering. However, it can be a complex and time-consuming process, and requires strong evidence to prove the claim.

Keep reading to learn more about the circumstances under which a landlord can sue a tenant for emotional distress, the legal requirements for filing such a claim, and the challenges involved in proving emotional harm.

Types Of Emotional Distress Claims

First, let’s understand how many types of emotional distress lawsuits you can claim.

According to the Legal Information Institute, there are two types of emotional distress lawsuits a person can claim under TORT Law.

1. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED)

Intentional infliction of emotional distress means when someone intentionally or purposely does something so extreme and outrageous that it causes another person severe emotional pain or suffering. It usually involves behavior that is shocking or beyond what’s considered acceptable in society.

For e.g., A tenant repeatedly sends threatening messages or confronts the landlord with aggressive behaviour, causing fear and emotional trauma.

2. Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED)

Intentional infliction of emotional distress means when someone intentionally or purposely does something so extreme and outrageous that it causes another person severe emotional pain or suffering. It usually involves behavior that is shocking or beyond what’s considered acceptable in society.

For e.g., A tenant leaves doors or windows unlocked, leading to a break-in or damage, which can cause you emotional distress from the financial loss and increased anxiety.

Legal Grounds for Landlords to Claim Emotional Distress Lawsuit

1. Extreme Tenant Misconduct

A lawsuit is possible if your tenant’s behavior is so extreme or outrageous that it causes significant mental suffering. It includes situations where the tenant is continuously disruptive, which goes beyond normal tenant behavior.

For e.g., A tenant who repeatedly sends threatening messages makes false accusations or deliberately creates situations that cause emotional trauma can be considered extreme misconduct.

2. Severe Property Damage

If a tenant causes severe damages to your property with the intent to cause harm or in a reckless manner, it can be grounds for you to file an emotional distress lawsuit. It includes critical or irreparable harm to the property, like breakage of appliances, large holes in walls, destroyed landscapes, etc.

For e.g., a tenant who, upon receiving an eviction notice, purposely breaks windows, damages flooring, and destroys built-in fixtures as an act of revenge.

3. Harassment or threatening behaviour

If your tenant harasses you or displays any behavior that is threatening or abusive, then you can sue your tenant for emotional distress out of fear and anxiety. It includes any verbal threats or physical aggression like pushing, stalking, intimidating gestures, making repeated unwanted contact or visits, etc.

For e.g., A tenant who continuously shows up uninvited at your residence sends threatening text messages or makes explicit threats about potential violent actions.

4. Repeated serious lease violations

If a tenant violates the terms of the lease(beyond typical minor violations) time and again, even after giving them a warning, it can lead you to headaches and stress. In such cases, you can sue your tenant for emotional distress. It includes any act that goes against your contract, such as unauthorized occupants, repeated noise complaints, illegal activities on the property, failing to pay rent on time despite multiple warnings, etc.

For e.g., a tenant who repeatedly sublets without permission or hosts large and disruptive parties every weekend is restricted in the lease.

5. Disruption of peace

If a tenant’s activities or behavior disturbs your peace and that of other residents and creates unbearable living conditions in the building, then it can be legal grounds for an emotional distress lawsuit. This includes activities like generating ongoing conflicts, spreading malicious rumors, making loud noise, intentionally undermining your reputation, etc.

For e.g., A tenant spreading false rumors about you, suggesting that you are engaged in illegal activities, or damaging your reputation.

Requirements for Proving Emotional Distress

As it is not physical, you can have difficulty in proving emotional distress in court. You have to be extremely careful and must have proper documentation of every possible thing that clearly supports your emotional distress claim.

To prove an emotional distress lawsuit, you need to have:

1. Evidence of extreme and outrageous conduct

Extreme and outrageous conduct means behavior or activities that are shocking or beyond what’s normally acceptable. It includes harassment, threats, or other forms of unacceptable treatment.

To prove emotional distress, you need to give strong evidence of such incidents that cause the emotional trauma. Evidence can include witness statements, text messages or emails, video or audio recordings, photographs, police reports, etc.

Note: Simple rudeness or minor misconduct is not extreme and outrageous conduct. The conduct must be truly severe, going far beyond what is acceptable.

2. Record of intentional or reckless conduct

Intentional or reckless conduct means deliberate actions that are done with a complete disregard for other people’s well-being and emotional safety. It includes persistent harassment, deliberate property damage, repeated lease violations, threats of violence, or systematic attempts to create an unsafe or hostile living environment.

To support your emotional distress claim, you need to provide a record of such activities. Documentation such as emails, text messages, maintenance records, and witness statements can help establish a pattern of intentional or reckless behavior.

3. Documented Mental Health Impact

You must prove that your tenant’s actions caused a real impact on your mental health. To show this, medical documentation supported by a licensed health professional is critical. You can show your psychiatric reports or therapy records that clearly demonstrate your mental suffering and the treatment you are having.

For e.g., if you start experiencing panic attacks or insomnia due to your tenant’s actions, a doctor’s note confirming this impact can help support your claim.

4. Clear connection between tenant’s actions and your’s distress

You can’t simply claim emotional distress without demonstrating a clear connection between the tenant’s actions and the distress you’re experiencing. You must provide concrete evidence that clearly shows how the tenant’s behavior directly caused your mental and emotional trauma. Any emotional suffering from external factors or pre-existing conditions doesn’t qualify for the claim and, thus, should not be considered.

For e.g., if you lose sleep due to your tenant’s repeated late-night phone calls, you can show that the distress came directly from the tenant’s actions.

Legal Process in Emotional Distress Claims

The legal process in emotional distress claims is very complex and time-consuming. Most importantly, since emotional harm is intangible, proving it requires strong evidence and careful legal steps.

1. Consult with an Attorney

The first step is to consult a lawyer specializing in landlord-tenant dispute law. It’s critical to seek legal advice regarding your issue before going forward with any legal action. An experienced attorney can help you understand your rights, assess the strength of your emotional distress claim, and provide guidance on the evidence needed to support your case.

2. Gather Evidence

The next step is to gather all the evidence that can support your claim as per the guidance of your attorney. Evidence could include witness statements, medical records, communication such as emails or text messages, police reports, photographs, or any other documentation that proves the defendant’s actions and the emotional harm caused.

3. File the Lawsuit

Now, you have the appropriate knowledge about the legal procedures and all the evidence to support your claim in hand. It’s time to file the lawsuit in your appropriate jurisdiction, as advised by your legal counsel.

Legal Challenges in Emotional Distress Claims

As emotional distress is not physical harm, proving it in court can be extremely difficult and challenging. Some challenges you may have to face while claiming an emotional distress lawsuit are:

1. High burden of proof

As emotional distress is intangible, proving it in court can be a challenging task for you. You are required to provide concrete evidence to the court that psychological harm occurred due to your tenant’s actions. This includes providing medical records, psychiatric evaluations, or expert testimony that clearly shows the link between your emotional distress and the incident. The court may dismiss the claim as baseless or unsubstantiated without solid evidence.

2. Potential countersuit risks

Proving emotional distress is hard. If you can’t back up your claim properly, you open the door to potential countersuit risks from your tenants. Your tenant can counter your claim, questioning the legitimacy of your emotional suffering and accusing you of defamation or false accusations. This could make the case more complicated and increase your legal costs, which can put additional psychological strain on you.

3. Expensive litigation process

An emotional distress lawsuit is an expensive litigation due to its complex nature. Attorney fees, expert witness charges, documentation costs, psychiatric evaluation costs, court fees, etc. These costs can financially drain you. Additionally, the process can be time-consuming, stretching over months or even years. There is a higher chance that the financial investment required might outweigh the potential compensation, making the case challenging for you to pursue.

4. Difficult quantifying emotional damages

Emotional damages are not physical things and thus don’t have a clear monetary value. It can be challenging to determine exactly how much compensation is fair. The court relies on subjective interpretations of pain and suffering, like intensity of emotional trauma, duration of distress, medical bills for therapy, loss of work or impact on personal and professional life, but these estimates can vary widely.

How OKC Home Service Can Help You

Proving an emotional distress claim in court can be a challenging task. Since emotional pain is not something that can be seen or touched, you are already equipped with a high burden of proof to support your claims. And this is one of the reasons why such cases have a very low success rate.

More importantly, such legal procedures will cost you a lot of time, energy, and money, which may not be worth it. That’s why resolving the issue within yourself should be your priority before taking any legal path.

But if you are still considering suing your tenant, it’s best to seek professional help like OKC Home Realty Services, LLC.

With 27+ years of experience in property management, we can help you evaluate the situation properly and manage all the required legal documents. We can also provide guidance on moving forward and better strategizing your legal approach while complying with legal procedures before escalating to litigation.

FAQs About Suing Tenants for Emotional Distress