@Christina142
Hola
This is definitely a tricky situation.
I was an apartment/property Manager in California for years and had to deal with situations just like this and, the short answer would be, yes. If this was a resident, with a signed contract/rental agreement, he would be charged for damage fees if he damaged the sprinkler system, or any other part of the apartment. I wouldn’t charge him for the visit/labor though.
In California, we have about 48 hours to answer a maintenance call, unless there was valid reason that it would take longer for repairs, i.e. purchasing parts. If I didn’t have maintenance on hand to take care of the situation, especially something as simple as changing a battery, I would make it work! Call another property, call an electrician, even do it myself if I needed to (if it meant saving the company time and money) and I wouldn’t charge the resident.
Unfortunately, with Airbnb, these are not residents and the landlord/tenant laws, or contract isn’t the same.
If you added a Security Deposit to your listing, you may want to try submitting a claim. In case you are concerned about causing tension while your guest is still in your home, you do have 14 days of the checkout date or before a new guest checks in, whichever is earlier, to submit your claim. Here is the link for more info: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/140/how-does-airbnb-handle-security-deposits
After a claim is submitted, Airbnb will open a case and everything will be resolved through Airbnb mediation. Here is a link for the details: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/352/what-happens-if-a-host-makes-a-claim-on-my-security-deposit
Hopefully, host and guest will come to an agreement, and this issue will be resolved.
If you don’t have a Security Deposit listed, it might be something to consider adding to prevent future mishaps. Here’s the link on how to do this: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/59/how-do-i-add-a-security-deposit-to-my-listing.
If not, I would count this as a loss. Speak with the guest, make sure he understands all the House Rules and, because he will still be there for a few more months, explain to him the best procedures should this happen again.
As Property Manager, we had binders and meetings and trainings that helped us avoid and trouble shoot these types of situations. One of the policies was never advise a tenant to make their own repairs, as they may end up making things worse and damages cost may be transferred to the resident(s), as was the case here it seems. You may want to consider this in your House Rules (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/472/how-do-i-share-my-house-rules-with-guests ) moving forward.
There are other ways you can try to prevent this from happening again and if you would like further assistance I’m happy to help.
In the meantime, I’m sorry that you had to go through this experience and I hope everything works out in the end.
Hope this is helpful! Let me know if you have any more questions, happy to help!
Happy Hosting!
Izzie, Co-Host
LOV Puerto Rico