Altadena couple says home trashed after it was turned into Airbnb party house
ALTADENA, Calif. - A local couple says their newly renovated home in Altadena was trashed after it was turned into an Airbnb party house. This as the company recently decided to ban party house rentals.
Over the weekend Airbnb announced that it is banning party house rentals. Unfortunately, the moves comes too late for a young couple in Altadena.
“We were super excited about this and to finally get some supplemental income to help with the mortgage,” said David Oh.
New parents David and Shiho Oh were looking forward to offering their newly purchased and renovated Altadena home for rent on Airbnb. After buying the house last spring, a family health issue left the couple with a difficult decision, move away to take care of their ailing parents and rent out their property:
“We even folded the toilet paper in the hotel folds and were super excited,” said Shiho.
The couple partnered with a rental company that listed their 3-bedroom home on Airbnb for $225 a night. A renter signed up for the weekend of September 28th saying it would be occupied by three couples.
Related: Airbnb to ban 'party houses' in wake of deadly California shooting
Shiho saw three men arrive on her Nest camera around 5:30 that night and grew suspicious.
“Then I saw one of the guys go back for what I thought was their luggage and return with a base cabinet speaker and a computer monitor which seemed more like DJ equipment,” Shiho said.
The couple let it go but six hours later they got a disturbing call from their neighbor.
“There are hundreds of partiers, not just six people but hundreds of partiers at the house.” Said David.
The neighbor snapped a picture of the party. The cops were called and deputies arrived around 11:30 p.m. and broke up the party.
“Sheriff’s drew their guns and rifles at the house...they shouted that house...497 come out with your hands up,” said David.
The couple estimates the damage to be in excess of 100,000 dollars and took video of the aftermath.
“There is puke in the living room puke in the bathroom puke in the office urine on the wall, the cups they used... feminine products all over... fast food trash... the house was absolutely disgusting,” said David
The family says they contacted Airbnb’s claims department and was assured the matter would be expedited.
“It’s just really frustrating...we just want to move on and get the place fixed and cleaned,” said Shiho.
FOX 11 reached out to Airbnb. A spokesperson said the claim is still being processed and they are working toward a solution.
The company offers a $1 million home protection program -- $1,000,000 per occurrence in the event of a third-party claim of bodily injury or property damage related to an Airbnb stay.
Meanwhile, the family says they are going public in the hopes their experience will serve as a cautionary tale to others.
“Anyone who is considering Airbnb, just think extremely carefully because your home, your beautiful home, everything that’s inside of it is at risk,” Oh said.
A representative for the company says it runs background checks on all renters for felonies and significant misdemeanors using name and dates of birth.
As for the party house ban, Airbnb outlined steps to enforce it including creating a party house rapid response team and removing guests who violate the rules.