With two special events sent to take place in Dunedin soon, Airbnb homeowners are being cautioned against the legal risks of letting their properties to the thousands of visiting fans.
Already, the city’s commercial accommodation is straining under the pressure, which means many of the travelling fans would turn to websites such as Airbnb to find a room or house to rent for the June 13 match between the Lions and the Highlanders, as well as the three Ed Sheeran concerts in March next year.
Graham Roper, of NZ Safety Brokers, said homeowners need to aware of the legal risks that come with the rapid rise of the peer-to-peer accommodation service, Otago Times Daily reported.
Homeowners who let out their properties using such sites as Airbnb are considered a PCBU - a “person conducting a business or an undertaking - which means they have to comply with the requirements of the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, or face a potential worksafe prosecution if their negligence leads to a guest being killed or injured, Roper said.
Such would be the case, for example, if the homeowner failed to fix a loose carpet at the top of a staircase, and a guest tripped and fell, he explained. If a prosecution was successful, homeowners could incur massive losses – some of which won’t be covered by insurance, the report said.
An Airbnb spokesman said that the company had 29,000 listings across the country, but “negative incidents” are still “extremely rare.”
Airbnb homeowners are offered the Host Guarantee and Host Protection insurance for up to $1 million in claims to cover for property damage and claims against them, including by a guest who sustained an injury during their stay, he said.
This does not cover, however, court-ordered fines, as the Health and Safety at Work Act made it illegal to insure against them,
Terry Jordan, Insurance Council of New Zealand operations manager, told ODT.
Business liability insurance would cover the legal costs and reparations to victims, and if a homeowner’s insurance covered Airbnb, that would also include legal defence costs – but not exemplary damages, fines or penalties, Jordan said.
A Dunedin homeowner who refused to be name, labelled the concerns, however, as a “storm in a teacup.”
He said the rating system used by Airbnb to review the renters and the homeowners encouraged all parties to behave responsibly.
“If you’re not a competent person, and if you don’t have a very organised home, you don’t get guests,” he told OTD. “It’s a self-regulating business by its own actions of the reviewing system.”
Related stories:
Insurance warning to Airbnb homeowners
Couple fined for sub-letting rental property on Airbnb
.jpg)
