Electrical panel in basement bedroom

[Andrea-and-Francis0]

Just wondering other hosts experience renting an airbnb basement bedroom to guests that has an electrical panel inside that controls the entire house? I am concerned that if the switch jumps because someone overloads an outlet, how does the host access the guests bedroom if someone is occupying it? I am not comfortable giving guests access to our electrical panel so it is locked.

[Susan151]

@Andrea-and-Francis0  I have to say that your one bedroom in the basement would not be legal in the United States, and may not be legal in Canada. I only see one way to get out in case of an emergency. I don't see an egress window in the bedroom which is required by Internation Building Codes. The electrical box is a small issue compared to the safety issues.

However, to answer your question, if you put in your house rules that you can access the space if and when there is a circuit breaker that is triggered, you shouldn't have any issues with going down to reset the breaker.

[Bryan675]

I recently stayed in an AirBNB in Roselle, New Jersey that had the panel box for two residences (the house was recently split and the owner rented out the other side). It also didn’t have a smoke detector in the room or an egress exit. The path to the bathroom in the basement was 1/2 finished with Romex exposed in the basement. 

After leaving a review that it wasn’t safe, the owners daughter called and reamed me out. She said “we can let people decide if they feel comfortable” and guilt tripped me for taking money from her mother.

[Debra300]

@Bryan675,

Although I think that it's inappropriate for a host to call a past guest to complain about a review, I do think she did so, because the review may have been that she was notified earlier and given an opportunity to remedy the situation.  Did you raise your safety concerns to the host or Airbnb during your stay?  Did you complete your entire stay?