Making a residential pool meet commercial safety requirements

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Jul 2, 2012
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Saugerties, NY
In the last few years, the pool maintenance business has seen a shift where many pool owners are renting their properties out on AirBnB. This creates an interesting set of challenges in terms of regular maintenance simply because the level of use and abuse can vary greatly from week to week. Now a new set of challenges are starting to appear. Insurance companies are requiring property owners to comply with safety standards that normally apply to commercial pools like you might find at a hotel, or public pool.

So I'm curious if any of you have encountered this, and how it was dealt with. Things like marking the pool walls with water depth at various locations around the pool are not as practical when we are talking about a vinyl liner pool.
 
Insurance and pool safety codes are both things that are regulated at the State level. So I suppose you will see those kinds of requirements pop up in states that are politically hostile to the “gig economy” (AirBnB, Uber, etc). Here in AZ there are no such requirements.... yet.....
 
In my opinion, if the home is being rented out, it is a business and the property becomes commercial property during the rental period.

So, I would say that the pool has to meet the commercial/public standards.
 
Insurance companies can typically set their own definitions of what is and isn't a commercial property, though state law will override these.

IMO, if a person is renting their property out so much as to get on to the insurance company's radar then they own a rental property and have to deal with the consequences of that. Pools are already a magnet for insurance claims, I don't really like the idea of my rates going up because other primary residences are renting out their homes and bringing additional claims. However, for now someone can probably shop around their insurance to find companies that are less strict about these things. That's a temporary fix though, as the gig industry grows it only becomes more and more a target for regulation.
 
The insurance company isn't the final arbiter on the subject.

If you're acting as a business, then you are a business.

If an insurance company doesn't cover the situation, that just means that you're operating with no insurance.

If something happens, a plaintiff's attorney can claim that the property owner should have met commercial regulations.

If you're not covered by insurance, the plaintiff can go after you personally for negligence.
 
I think this is kind of a grey area. Do private landlords operate their rental home pools according to commercial standards? I don’t think so. And let’s remember what those commercial regs are designed for - their purpose is primarily to cut down on the transmission of communicable diseases as well as ensure the safety of multiple swimmers in high bather load situations. Residential pools, even short term rentals, are still single-family/low bather load situations.

But, as has been pointed out many times, our society is a litigious one so there will always be plenty of work for a crafty personal injury attorney no matter how much risk you attempt to mitigate.
 
Depth markings are intended to warn users who are unfamiliar with the pool so that they don't dive in and break their neck.

A resident will be more familiar with the pool and whether it is safe for diving.

As far as a personal injury attorney is concerned, they will go after anyone and everyone they possibly can even on the most tenuous reasons for a cause of action on the theory that many people will settle in lieu of battling it out in court against a sympathetic plaintiff in a wheelchair and bodycast.
 
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A friend of mine has a vacation rental property up in Scottsdale. When she went to get insurance, they told her to remove the diving board, (obviously) had to have 2 life preservers, signage stating the rules, a rope separating the shallow end from the deep, and paint depth markings on the decking on both sides of the pool.
 
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A host should anticipate every possible way that a guest could be harmed.

For example, if the pool is close to the house, the guest might dive off of the roof into the pool and hit the bottom of the pool or land on the deck.

An attorney would argue that it constitutes an attractive nuisance that practically invites unsafe behavior.

Therefore, the host should install a fence around the perimeter of the roof to prevent ingress or egress. The gates should be locked and alarmed.

Furthermore, the host should provide a comprehensive home use and safety review before turning the property over to the guest.

In the above example, the safety briefing should include something like the following:

Warning: Please do not dive off of the roof into the pool. I know that it looks cool and super fun, and it totally is, but please don't do it.

Make sure that the safety class is videotaped and that the safety paperwork is signed and notarized by all guests.

It probably would be a good idea to require all guests to wear lifejackets, helmets, safety glasses, reflective clothing and a biteguard at all times just in case.
 
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JamesW said:
In my opinion, if the home is being rented out, it is a business and the property becomes commercial property during the rental period.

So, I would say that the pool has to meet the commercial/public standards.
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Am I allowed to disagree, from an Aussie perspective, if a residential house is rented it is done so under a tenancy agreement and is classed as an investment. The house remains a home with people living there on a perminate basis, its a residence and as such the pool is a residential pool. The tenancy agreement will contain clauses for sub tenancy which will allow or disallow sub letting the property to a third party as a holiday rental or AirBnB etc. or indicate if a business can be operated from the property.

Aussie holiday rentals, including AirBnB of residential homes are currently treated as residential. There are many situations where a business is conducted from a residential rental property such as a home office, tutoring, ebay store etc. but I’ve ever seen anyone offering swimming lessons or inviting and charging an entry fee to the general public for a residential pool.
 
In my opinion, an airb&b is more like a hotel than a residence.

In any case, if something happens, what matters is what an attorney can convince a jury is reasonable or unreasonable.

If an attorney can wheel out a person in a wheelchair or show a grieving family and convince a jury that a host was negligent, then the host is going to pay.

The law's not always clear on duty of care. So, it's usually best to take reasonable precautions.
 
I get your point but I’m not convinced, a hotel has a front desk, staff, and all the other amenities but more to the point the hotel pool is a community pool, one pool for dosens of rooms and swimmers. Where an AirBnB is more like a yearly or holiday rental, one house with one pool used by one family. If a pool is not a community pool or there is no income produced directly from the pool than its residential. You don’t airBnB a pool, you AirBnB a property, the pool is just an amenity of the property the same as a gourmet kitchen or an ocean view.
 
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