3 ms·

In the US, property and tort law varies from state to state, but in general, for "invitees" (IE people you have explicitly invited to come into your property),

In the US, property and tort law varies from state to state, but in general, for "invitees" (IE people you have explicitly invited to come into your property), you have a duty to not only repair and correct known dangers, but reasonably inspect, discover, and correct unknown dangers. This is true even when it's not a situation where the guy paid for a rental and you put the pictures of the swing in the listing ;-) By way of an example, here's a writeup on connecticut: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/rpt/2002-R-0365.htm https://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/rpt/2002-R-0365.htm "The Connecticut Supreme Court described three types of invitees. ... 2. A business invitee is someone invited to enter or remain on land for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealing with the possessor of land. ... The possessor of land owes an invitee all the duties that he owes to a licensee and also: (1) the duty to inspect the premises and erect safeguards, if necessary, to render the premises reasonably safe and (2) he has liability for defects that would ordinarily be discoverable by a reasonable inspection and he has the duty to give a proper warning. But he is not liable to anyone for unknown latent defects, that could not be discovered by the exercise of reasonable care (Conn. Law of Torts, § 49). Even if he is an invitee, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant had notice, actual or constructive, of the specific defective condition that caused the injury, and that the condition existed for a sufficient length of time to allow the possessor, in the exercise of reasonable care, an opportunity to discover it and fix it or warn of its presence (Monahan v. Montgomery, 153 Conn. 386). The possessor of land is not liable for hazards that could not have been discovered or anticipated (Conn. Law of Torts, § 49). " (The usual next argument is about whether it's reasonable, could have been discovered, etc. These are generally jury questions)

jacquesm 11y ago
> But he is not liable to anyone for unknown latent defects, that could not be discovered by the exercise of reasonable care. And that's exactly the rub. People renting out their AirBNB properties will not study the law beforehand to establish the limits of their liability, nor will they review the entirety of their property for being safe for guests. They will go online and click a few buttons and expect some extra income from guests in their house and therefore accidents can and will happen. Nor will AirBNB send around their friendly safety inspector to make sure everything is A-OK before accepting the listing. I'm very sorry that person died but with private operators your normal expectations of service levels should go right out the window in return for a less cookie-cutter experience. I can't see a way in which you could rule out these sort of accidents without ending up in the regular hotel business. So either AirBNB operators are hotel operators and their hosts are franchise operators and they should all just 'follow the rules' or AirBNB guests will have to take into account that they are entering an unknown private home with an unknown history of maintenance. Caveat emptor... Because in the end it is your life and the lives of your dear ones that are at risk.
- DannyBee 11y ago
  " I'm very sorry that person died but with private operators your normal expectations of service levels should go right out the window in return for a less cookie-cutter experience." This has zero effect on the law, of course, and in fact, i expect the law will get harsher in the face of AirBNB, not easier. "AirBNB guests will have to take into account that they are entering an unknown private home with an unknown history of maintenance." More likely what will happen is what has happened in the past: People get sued into oblivion, and either take out insurance, have regular inspections, or stop renting their home. Or some type of regulatory change will occur that makes airbnb untenable.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    > Or some type of regulatory change will occur that makes airbnb untenable. That would be a good thing but I think that it may be quite a while before a synchronized legal framework will materialize and the money is such that it will drive such rentals underground. AirBNB is the talk of the town in Amsterdam, whole buildings are converted into illegal hotels (and are fire-traps to boot). There is a huge divide imo between people using AirBNB to rent out the place they normally occupy versus people setting up places with the sole intention of renting them out via AirBNB, bookings.com (which is quite popular) and the like. The city of Amsterdam has stopped issuing permits allowing 'short stay' (which still has to be 7 days or more). https://www.amsterdam.nl/veelgevraagd/?caseid={BF4EAC6B-F642-448A-8250-6B77AE7B0843} https://www.amsterdam.nl/veelgevraagd/?caseid={BF4EAC6B-F642... (dutch, sorry, I can't find a relevant link in English). That doesn't stop people from buying up stacks of houses and converting them. One such situation with which I'm familiar converted two stacks right next to each other, 5 floors each into 20 (front and back) sections each of which fetches between 100 and 150 euros per night on AirBNB. The money involved is stupendous and the municipality has more things to do than to go after illegal hotels though they will definitely act if a situation is deemed unsafe.

jacquesm 11y ago

> But he is not liable to anyone for unknown latent defects, that could not be discovered by the exercise of reasonable care. And that's exactly the rub. People renting out their AirBNB properties will not study the law beforehand to establish the limits of their liability, nor will they review the entirety of their property for being safe for guests. They will go online and click a few buttons and expect some extra income from guests in their house and therefore accidents can and will happen. Nor will AirBNB send around their friendly safety inspector to make sure everything is A-OK before accepting the listing. I'm very sorry that person died but with private operators your normal expectations of service levels should go right out the window in return for a less cookie-cutter experience. I can't see a way in which you could rule out these sort of accidents without ending up in the regular hotel business. So either AirBNB operators are hotel operators and their hosts are franchise operators and they should all just 'follow the rules' or AirBNB guests will have to take into account that they are entering an unknown private home with an unknown history of maintenance. Caveat emptor... Because in the end it is your life and the lives of your dear ones that are at risk.

DannyBee 11y ago
" I'm very sorry that person died but with private operators your normal expectations of service levels should go right out the window in return for a less cookie-cutter experience." This has zero effect on the law, of course, and in fact, i expect the law will get harsher in the face of AirBNB, not easier. "AirBNB guests will have to take into account that they are entering an unknown private home with an unknown history of maintenance." More likely what will happen is what has happened in the past: People get sued into oblivion, and either take out insurance, have regular inspections, or stop renting their home. Or some type of regulatory change will occur that makes airbnb untenable.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  > Or some type of regulatory change will occur that makes airbnb untenable. That would be a good thing but I think that it may be quite a while before a synchronized legal framework will materialize and the money is such that it will drive such rentals underground. AirBNB is the talk of the town in Amsterdam, whole buildings are converted into illegal hotels (and are fire-traps to boot). There is a huge divide imo between people using AirBNB to rent out the place they normally occupy versus people setting up places with the sole intention of renting them out via AirBNB, bookings.com (which is quite popular) and the like. The city of Amsterdam has stopped issuing permits allowing 'short stay' (which still has to be 7 days or more). https://www.amsterdam.nl/veelgevraagd/?caseid={BF4EAC6B-F642-448A-8250-6B77AE7B0843} https://www.amsterdam.nl/veelgevraagd/?caseid={BF4EAC6B-F642... (dutch, sorry, I can't find a relevant link in English). That doesn't stop people from buying up stacks of houses and converting them. One such situation with which I'm familiar converted two stacks right next to each other, 5 floors each into 20 (front and back) sections each of which fetches between 100 and 150 euros per night on AirBNB. The money involved is stupendous and the municipality has more things to do than to go after illegal hotels though they will definitely act if a situation is deemed unsafe.