Legally, there are three types of people that come to a property that property owners have duties to: invitees, licensees, and trespassers. Invitees are people who come to a property for business purposes, such as a customer coming into a shop.
Licensees are people who are invited over or are at the property by the consent of the property owner, such as your friends coming to your house to watch a football game. Trespassers are people who come onto your property without your permission and knowledge.
A property owner has duties to all of these people, even trespassers, although they are different in each category. For licensees, property owners have a duty to watch out for their visitors and warn them about hazards that aren’t obvious to the guest.
Licensees have responsibilities to take care in another person’s home and to watch out for hazards that are obvious. Proving negligence when a licensee is injured involves showing that the property owner knew about the hazard, could expect that the licensee wouldn’t be aware of the hazard, and doesn’t warn or otherwise prevent the licensee from being injured.
An Atlanta premises liability attorney may be able to provide more information about licensees.