When a guest damages your home

Wear and tear, accident or deliberate damage

The first thing to settle is what kind of damage you are looking at, because that decides who pays. There is no reliable published figure for how often guests cause serious damage in UK short lets, so be wary of anyone who quotes one. The everyday pattern is clear enough: most stays end with ordinary wear, some with a small accident, and very few with deliberate damage.

Wear and tear comes with more people passing through, so budget for it like any other running cost. Airbnb’s terms exclude it and so do insurers, though repairs that put things back as they were can usually be set against your rental income (see tax on short-let income). Accidental damage makes up most genuine claims. Deliberate damage, often called malicious damage, is rarer but far more expensive, and the kind most likely to involve the police and your insurer.

Stopping damage before it happens

Serious damage tends to come from stays that should never have been booked: a party booked as a quiet weekend, or twice as many people as the home sleeps. Knowing who is coming, and why, filters most of these out.

• Photo ID from every guest
• A signed rental agreement
• Damage deposit or waiver
• Who is staying, and why
• Short, clear house rules
• Dated photos of every room

Before check-in, every guest we host gives photo ID, signs a rental agreement, pays a damage deposit or a damage waiver, and tells us who is staying and why. The signed agreement puts the guest’s responsibility for damage in writing before they arrive. Our guide to how guests are checked covers each check.

House rules, inventory and photos

House rules work best when they are short and specific: no parties or events, no smoking indoors, the maximum number of guests, quiet hours and whether pets are allowed. Put them in the listing so guests accept them when they book, and in the home so they see them on arrival.

Then keep an inventory with dated photos of every room. A claim is only as strong as your proof of how the home looked before the guest arrived. Photograph walls, floors, sofas, mattresses, appliances and anything valuable, and keep receipts for larger items. Cleaners who photograph each room at every changeover give you a rolling record; see cleaning between stays.

What to do when damage is found

Damage is usually spotted at the changeover clean. The order you do things in matters, because every scheme wants evidence and has a deadline.

1. At the changeover
   Photograph it firstClose-up and wide photos or video, before anything is cleaned or moved.
2. Same day
   Make the home safeDeal with anything dangerous or leaking, and check the next guest can still arrive.
3. Within a day or two
   Contact the guestA calm, factual message with photos, sent through the booking platform.
4. Within the week
   Put a price on itA repair quote, replacement link or cleaning invoice.
5. Within 14 days of checkout
   Make the claimRequest payment through the platform, or claim against the deposit or waiver.
6. If it is not paid
   EscalateThe platform’s own scheme, then your insurer, and the police for deliberate damage.

Good evidence is specific. A photo of a scorched worktop beside the inventory photo of the same worktop does more than a page of description. Keep messages polite and factual: the platforms read them, and a guest who feels accused is less likely to pay.

For deliberate damage, report it to the police online or on 101 if no one is in danger, and keep the crime reference number. Insurers commonly ask for one before paying a malicious damage claim. If something is damaged in a home we run, we arrange the repair and handle any claim.

What Airbnb and Booking.com will pay

Both big platforms have damage schemes. They help, but they are narrower than many owners assume, and only apply to stays booked through them.

Airbnb: AirCover for Hosts

AirCover for Hosts bundles two things. Host damage protection reimburses damage guests cause to your home and belongings, up to $3 million (Airbnb sets its limits in US dollars), plus extra cleaning for smoke, stains or pet accidents and income lost from bookings you have to cancel. Host liability insurance, up to $1 million, covers you if you are found legally responsible for someone’s injury or damaged belongings. For UK hosts that part is a genuine insurance policy, underwritten by Zurich.

To claim, you request the money from the guest through Airbnb’s Resolution Centre within 14 days of checkout. The guest has 24 hours to respond. If they refuse, ignore it or pay only part, you can ask Airbnb to review it under host damage protection. The limits matter more than the headline figure:

• It is not insurance. Airbnb’s terms say so plainly. It is a promise in Airbnb’s own terms, and Airbnb decides the claim.
• Wear and tear is excluded, along with normal checkout cleaning such as laundry and dishes, cash, and natural disasters.
• Items are valued as they are now: the lowest of repair cost, replacement cost or actual cash value, which takes off depreciation. A five-year-old sofa does not pay out as a new one.
• Your own insurance comes off the total. Anything your insurer pays reduces what Airbnb pays, and Airbnb can refuse a claim if you did not take reasonable care to avoid the loss.

Booking.com

Booking.com lets you take a damage deposit yourself, on terms you set, or use its damage programme, where the guest pays nothing upfront. You submit a payment request within 14 days of checkout, with a description, clear photos and invoices or receipts. Booking.com contacts the guest, can take up to 14 days to assess it, and pays accepted requests by bank transfer within up to 30 days. Requests are capped at £500 for now, or a lower maximum you set, and Booking.com can turn them down.

Its free Partner Liability Insurance, up to £1,000,000 for UK homes, covers claims from guests or others about injury or damage to their belongings. Like Airbnb’s liability cover, it deals with claims against you, not damage to your own home.

Damage deposits or damage waivers

Most managers ask guests for one or the other, and they solve the same problem in different ways. A deposit is the guest’s own money, held and returned. A waiver is a small, non-refundable fee that pays for accidental damage up to a limit.

A deposit gives you money in hand, but only up to its size, and each deduction has to be justified. Booking.com says deposits tend to mean fewer bookings and more cancellations. On Airbnb, most hosts cannot take a deposit at all: only some hosts using connected software may collect one, shown to guests before they book and returned within 7 days of checkout if nothing is damaged.

A waiver settles small accidents faster because there is less to argue about, but limits and exclusions vary between providers. Neither covers a real disaster: a deposit runs out fast against a ruined kitchen, and a waiver has its own ceiling.

Why specialist short-let insurance matters

A standard home or landlord policy is written for a home you live in, or one let to a long-term tenant. Many do not cover paying guests, and an insurer can refuse a claim if you did not tell it you were letting. The ABI’s advice is plain: tell your insurer before you start letting. We recommend specialist short-let insurance, and five questions show whether a policy is up to the job.

Liability is the part owners most often overlook. The platforms’ liability schemes only apply to stays booked through them, so direct bookings and other sites rely on your own policy. Our guide to insurance for short lets covers policy types, excesses and what insurers ask.

Who covers what

Put together, the layers stack up in a set order. The guest is always the first port of call, and insurance is the backstop.

Platform schemes only cover stays booked through that platform. Direct bookings rely on the deposit or waiver and your own insurance.

Many claims stop at the first step: a guest shown clear photos and a fair price will often pay. The later layers are there for the rare stay that goes badly wrong.

Questions owners ask