NAIOP: How Landlords Can Reopen Buildings While Avoiding Liability Risk

As COVID-19 restrictions relax, employees are ditching their sweats and returning back to the office. However, COVID-19′s infectiousness and dramatic impact on commercial building occupancy presents new challenges for buildings welcoming back workers.

Commercial real estate development association NAIOP recently outlined the operational, maintenance and inspection tasks commercial buildings should implement to ensure a healthy return and workspace for all tenants.

NAIOP released its “Navigating a Safe Return to Work: Best Practices for US Office Building Owners and Tenants” brief this month highlighting best practices. The guidance was drawn from various sources including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, commercial real estate companies Cushman & Wakefield and JLL, a recent NAIOP webinar and media reports.

Noting low occupancy rates of commercial buildings stemming from layoffs and quarantines, NAIOP suggested maintenance staff thoroughly inspect buildings for damages that may have occurred during vacancy. Those inspections include checking fire life systems, mechanical systems, water systems, conveyances and drains and pipes.

Before reopening, building owners should also conduct an air flush of the building to reduce pollutants in interior spaces. Additionally, the HVAC system’s fresh air intake should be increased and configured to maintain positive building air pressure. Ideally, NAIOP wrote, HVAC systems should run completely on fresh air.

Different cleaning and building operations will also be required as occupants will likely have higher sanitation expectations. Restrooms, elevators, break rooms and other high-traffic common areas will now require multiple cleanings per day, according to NAIOP. While daily cleaning will still be permissible for some tenants, others will require multiple cleanings per day as workers arrive during different shifts. Cleaning operations may also shift to business hours so employees can ensure their office is being cleaned regularly.

As more employees head back to the office, the potential for coronavirus spread still lingers and social distancing and the removal and rearranging of high-touch communal objects should be considered, NAIOP wrote. Along with placing social distancing reminders and disinfected products throughout common areas, NAIOP suggested removing door handles or removing some interior doors altogether. 

While noting the usage of placards to remind occupants and visitors of safe spacing in elevators, NAIOP acknowledged limiting two or three people to an elevator during peak morning or evening traffic isn’t realistic. Instead, NAIOP suggested building owners collaborate with tenants and implement staggered employee arrival and departing times or dedicate specific elevators to departures.

To be sure, NAIOP’s suggested practices are to stem coronavirus spread, but some building owners may be tempted to test everyone that enters their building to mitigate a health risk. But that practice can lead to higher legal liability for landlords, NAIOP noted. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently updated its guidance and now allows employers to screen employees for fevers, that doesn’t extend to landlords’ occupants.

In contrast, screening tenants and visitors could create a legal “duty to care,” NAIOP wrote. However landlords’ risks doesn’t end there. The building owner also risks liability if they fail to deny an infected individual entry into its building, according to NAIOP. To mitigate that risk, NAIOP suggested restricting entrance from the general public and nonessential visitors and encouraging tenants to conduct their own screenings.