AirBnB asking us to pay 3000 pounds 2 months after stay

[puzzledmom]

AirBnb have asked us to pay for damages to the apartment we were staying in during summer in St Ives Cornwall. When we were there the host told us that there was a leak that was causing damage to apartment below. We cooperated and let plumber in and other staff in to inspect.

Then after the stay the host is claiming that we flooded the apartment and AirBnb is asking us to pay for damages.

We're at loss as to how we could be held responsible for the damage. Have appealed but would appreciate any advice.

Very likely indeed!

did you cause it?

How can people possible respond as there's only a fraction of the story here and lots not clear. I certainly need more info and the op hasn't come back.

You're not responsible. Just as in any other type of tenancy, they are the landlord, they (should) have buildings insurance, and they (should) claim from the insurance to cover the cost of damage to the property.

It sounds to me like they don't have insurance and are chancing their arm.

You need to state the facts and give dates of communication. If you have evidence of any communication between you and the landlords regarding the plumbers, take screenshots and send them. Ask what evidence they have to blame you for the leak - demand to see a copy of the plumber's invoice with the diagnosis of the problem and the work done to fix it, and the evidence that the problem was caused by deliberate damage they can definitively blame on you (they won't have this). Demand to see their insurance documentation - if they can't do this (which I suspect they won't be able to) then they are actually in breach of AirBnB regulations as all AirBnB landlords have to have adequate insurance, and if they have a mortgage and don't have buildings insurance, they will also be in breach of their mortgage agreement. State that your solicitor will be in touch should any further claims be made against you or any attempt at payment be taken from your card. Mentioning legal action normally puts a stop to any nonsense.

I suspect this isn't their first rodeo and they rely on people not understanding their rights and just paying up. Don't let them take you for fools.

What did the plumber say or do when they came in? Did they tell you what the problem was?

How good is your evidence? Do you have a good log of phone calls, texts etc. if it's just phone calls how can you prove what she said on each day? How can you prove that she 'told' you that it was damaging the apartment below.

Unless you deliberately or carelessly caused water damage, they sound like chancers.

I thought the same. Insurance are refusing to pay out for some reason.

I'd go back with bells on. Demand copies of all insurance and liabilities, a full building inspection and report the fuckers to Heath and Saftey.

An Air BNB landlord SHOULD have commercial LL property insurance to cover any accidental damage/leaks during occupation by paying guests.

Clearly, the AIR BNB host is either not insured for commercial tenants, or their insurer has refused to pay out for some other reason. Leaving the host to face the repair bill.

That's not your problem.

Something like a faulty washing machine, dishwasher, burst pipe, leaky sink/shower/ drain can't be blamed on you.

To claim against you the INSURERS claim adjusters would need to prove A) the cause of the leak flood happened after you arrived in the property and B) you negligently or deliberately did something that caused the leak/flood.

I had almost the exact same thing this summer. I won the case after alot of back and fourth. I crafted a very thought out letter to Air BNB.

First I acted very calm, professional and reasonable in my letter.

Paragraph 1: Stating how long I have been using Air Bnb, painting a picture of who I am travelling with (to sound human and reasonable), and quoting positive comments of reviews received from other hosts. "very clean" "would host again"

Paragraph 2: Stating very clearly the listed events in sequence with evidence attached. And all the reasonable steps you took.

Paragraph 3: Why you are not responsible e.g. you are not responsible for plumbing. E.g. You in no way caused this leaky pipe and you acted very professionally and reasonably to do all you could in this situation.

Paragraph 4: (this is the important one) Throw doubt on their story using multiple examples. For us they had photographs of evidence of the damage after, but no photos before so that damage could be from the last time the washing machine leaked. Ask them for more evidence. For us they said the washing machine was obviously broken, but we said then why weren't we told/ was it still available on the app/ a note on the washing machine. We are not responsible for their negligence.

You could also tap into the fact that it has been a long time since they have gotten back to you and this pipe may have continued to leak in that time and therefore it is nothing to do with you.

Paragraph 5: Ask them if you agree that you acted in a reasonable manner and did all you could. Ask if they agree that you are not responsible for a pipe bursting.

They can’t ask you for anything two months after your stay, tell them this is why they have insurance.

Unfortunately once a payment has previously been made to a company, getting an entirely new card & card number will not stop them being able to push payments through. When you give your card details to these companies, they do a security hold of £1.00 or sometime 0.01p and this secured any future payments, even if the balance is nil or the card is changed

Yes they can! See my previous post above

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. To address some of the questions -

1. we didn't do anything to cause the leak - we didn't do anything extraordinary. We once hung a wetsuit in the bathroom that made the floor wet. The owner sent someone the first time they had a leak in the apt downstairs, the floor was wet because we had a wetsuit and they asked us not to do that and we stopped. The floor wasn't wet again after that

2. the plumber came and didn't find anything under the bath

Someone came at 10 pm one night and said there was a leak downstairs. The seemed to have a leak everytime it rained so I said to the owner that it must be associated with rain. They also had cracks in grouting in the bathroom.

I have screenshots of all the discussion with the owner. The surprising thing is that they were very polite throughout the stay.

I have written back to AirBnb with all the photos of the conversation with the owner. I wish I had waited for all the helpful advice here before responding. Will see if I can add some points laid out from the folks here.

Thanks I really appreciate it.

it would have to be the worlds biggest wet suit to cause damage to the calf bellow !! What a joke ! They are trying it on to see if you would pay but once more that will not hold in court . Do not agree with paying absolutely anything as if you do you will be partly accepting liability .
funny enough my parents rent a Premium property with them and not long ago a group of people broke a marble table and the actual swimming pool tiles as they threw the ta me in the pool and they refused to take any money of their deposits because we couldn’t prove it was them ! House is alone in the middle of nowhere with only the beach in front 🙄

This is terrible and sounds like a scam. Have you contacted the owner to ask them what is going on, rather than contact air bnb?
Please delete your credit card details from the air bnb site and even better, cut the card up and report it lost.

An update - I received a message from AirBnb today that they've reversed their decision and case is closed. We don't have to pay.

In case it's useful for anyone in future -

I had sent them photos of all the communication between me and the owner which had all the communication around them investigating a potential leak. I also told them that there could have been multiple reasons for the leak including rain and asked what due diligence had they done to rule out other possibilities.

It was stressful but glad it ended up in our favour. Next time I would take photos of the apartment before leaving to have evidence of how we left the place. If we book Airbnb again at all!

Very pleased wrt your update. Now to send a letter to the county council asking if they’re paying business rates for their bins. 😉

I'm really pleased that worked out for you OP.