Balcony Collapse at a Weekend Rental in Malibu

So this happened over the weekend in Malibu:

2 People Were Critically Injured After A Balcony Collapse In Malibu Saturday; 4 Other People Were Also Transported To The Hospital

This is the home.

Talk about a nightmare! Hopefully this would be covered under the homeowner liability insurance.

How typically American. Throw a party with 30 people when the max guest count is 6, meaning they totally lied, resist the host trying to get everyone to leave, then threaten to sue because you and your a-hole friends had 30 people on a deck not built to event-center weight limits.

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A nightmare indeed. I can’t imagine being in the owner’s situation.

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Why on earth would you join a forum and have a dreadful story about people being injured as your first post?

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Are you asking if it is?

It is terrible the guests broke the posted rules & ignored repeated requests for unauthorized guests to leave, people got hurt and now the owner has to deal with damaged/unrentable property, the interior was vandalized by the party and now a legal mess.

I hope she sues the renters for damages & lost earnings.

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More like how typically self centered & entitled. (Not American)

From the article: “… the owner of the home who rented out the residence to some young people for the weekend.”

It doesn’t mention their nationality.

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That, too. It’s the suing part that I was referring to. Americans sue because they choked on their restaurant meal. As if it’s the restaurant’s fault they wolfed the food down without chewing.

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Just another Airbnb basher…

FFS.

JF

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Wow, I’m sure the weight of the hot tub didn’t help matters. I have not seen a hot tub on a deck, I normally see them on concrete flooring, ground level.

The hot tub was on the roof, not the balcony that collapsed.

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I don’t think the hot tub fell.

Those homes sometimes the underpinnings are not redone as often as the rest of the house, and the decks are cantilevered out over the beach and rocks, sometimes with the old waterlogged supports bearing the weight. Another time it also happened right near by.
https://patch.com/california/malibu/1992-balcony-malibu-home-466-feet-away-collapsed

This would NOT be covered by AirBnb’s so called “insurance”. This is WHY you need real homeowner insurance. I’m pretty sure the registered Guest is going to be held liable, not the HOA or the homeowner…

@Jess_Chan – interesting though it may be, try to bring something more positive to the table here. We’re all about helping our fellow hosts deal with a wide variety of issues.

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Oh, I thought it was on the deck.

This feels so insulting…swap in any other nationality, age group, or religious affiliation and there would be outrage at the sterotyping.

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Oh, please. The US is well known for people suing for all sorts of things people in other countries find laughable.

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The lawyers will go after the money and that will be the homeowner’s insurance company and/or homeowner. I sure hope the homeowner had appropriate short-term rental insurance.

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Well known? SMH. 202020

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Well - you are sure all living up to the “we are just passionate hosts”! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I actually joined this forum last week as I’ve listed my home with airbnb and got inundated with requests, and came across some old posts here that helped me identify potential red flags and pitfalls from the host perspective of working with airbnb, so created an account in the hopes of contributing once I got a bit more experience.

I posted the story after searching to see if someone else posted about it, my hope was that it would generate a discussion of what we could do to protect ourselves as hosts in this type of situation, is there anything the owner could have done differently… certainly for me I will re-evaluate my insurance and also look at some of the noise monitoring devices.

@Annet3176 Yes, I was wondering what insurance would cover something like this (mainly to make sure I have it!). In my previous dealings with insurance companies, they always look for a reason NOT to pay a claim, and you are certainly right, it’s a legal mess!

@KenH thanks for your reply, not trying being negative, just trying to be prepared! :grinning:

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I honestly doubt that even a short-term rental insurance policy would cover this. With the number of people on the balcony, I expect any type of insurance would deny liability.

My heart goes out to the property owner. She tried to get them out, but then this happened. I do hope she’s not liable.

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