Toilet Overflow casued Water Damage To Floor. Host or Tennant Responsible?

Eduardo1338
Level 2
Renton, WA

Toilet Overflow casued Water Damage To Floor. Host or Tennant Responsible?

I am a Tennant staying at an Airbnb for and extended stay. I have been here for over a week. Last Night I got up to use the restroom to find the toilet had overflown and covered the bathroom, hallway and a bedroom with water. The Hallway and Bedroom are Parquet Flooring. I turned the water off immediately and cleaned the floor as fast as I could. I opened the windows to dry the floor. This morning I wake up to severly bowed floors which need to be replaced. The Host of the Airbnb says that I am responsible for the floor. Im here to ask if I am responsible for the floor Replacement as A tennant. I didnt know this was going on with the toilet until it was too late and tried to take care of it as fast as possible. Please help! Thank you for your time.

5 Replies 5
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Eduardo1338 

The host must provide a toilet which is functioning normal and reliable. You are not responsible for the malfunction. Offcourse if you did something wrong ( f.e. flushed something unuseal through the toilet which caused the overflow) you can be held responsible for the damage caused.

 

Dale711
Level 10
Paris, France

Welcome to the community, @Eduardo1338

 

It's a host responsibility!

An overflowing toilet is caused by one of three things: a clogged or blocked drain that doesn't allow for a proper flush, an improperly adjusted float that allows the tank to overfill or a blocked vent pipe that replaces the air in the pipe after each flush.

 

Floor damage because of toilet overflow, definitely is the host responsibility.

In case, happen in the apartment, then is the building management responsible.

 

By the way, you do not need responsible for anything, because the host should be claimed from the housing insurance.

The insurance company is necessary to investigate.

 

 

Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Eduardo1338 whether you are responsible really depends on whether you flushed anything improper, as @Emiel1 said, and whether you informed the host immediately, which it sounds like you may not have.

 

Airbnb's process: the host can ask you to pay for it via the Airbnb resolution center. If you decline to pay or do not respond within 72 hours then the host can appeal to Airbnb, and Airbnb CS will review whatever documentation the host provides and make a decision about whether to charge you on the host's behalf. Airbnb makes this process fairly onerous for hosts and has some requirements that many hosts don't know about and therefore fail to meet, invalidating their claim.

 

In your shoes, if I were sure I had nothing to do with the malfunction and nobody could have done a better or faster job of clean-up than I did, I would decline to pay-- but if I thought I might be partly responsible by either commission or omission I would try to come to some kind of compromise agreement with the host.

So I had a similar situation in which when we arrive back to the Airbnb the toilet malfunction and the homeless flooded can I get a refund and can I charge for cleaning fees I was up for 4 hours sweeping the water out of the home and my guest ended up leaving

@Arthur427 

 

You have 14 days to claim to AirBNB, after that, AirBNB will not even consider your request.

 

and you will have to prove the damage was due to guest un proper used and will need to send bills to prove what it costed you.

 

good luck  

 

 

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Annie