$5.3 million home in San Francisco wrecked after Airbnb rental

ByDion Lim KGO logo

Saturday, September 8, 2018

$5.3 million home in SF wrecked after Airbnb rental

A home in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood was found trashed after an Airbnb renter moved out, leaving behind used needles, drug paraphernalia and stained clothing.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A home in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood was found trashed after an Airbnb renter moved out. Photos show the home littered with used needles, stained clothing and bedding and a floor covered in pills, filthy takeout containers and empty cardboard boxes.

What realtor and property manager Egan Lim walked into several days ago at one of his San Francisco buildings is nothing short of a nightmare.

"Working with home that were occupied by squatters, dilapidated hoarders, nothing would have prepared me for this. It was something out of a horror movie." says Lim, cringing.

PHOTOS: Ritzy SF home littered with drug paraphernalia, trash after Airbnb rental

Used needles, drug paraphernalia, stained clothing. Those are just a few of the things left behind at a ritzy home in San Francisco that was being rented out on Airbnb. Here's a look at photos provided by the real estate agent in charge of the listing.

Mark Prior, a trauma scene practitioner with the crime scene cleaning company Private Clean, described the conditions.

"It was horrible, horrible!" he exclaimed. "For the person who was renting here, he had defecated through the entire home and urinated all over the place as well. Using drugs and having his needles all over the bedding. The pillows, too. That was pretty horrific. People from the outside walking by could smell it, so you'd have joggers stopping and going, 'Wow, what's that smell?'"

While the home's address and neighborhood are being kept private at the owner's request, the property is valued at just over $5 million and in one of San Francisco's toniest neighborhoods with views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The in-law suite of the home was ransacked by renters.

Prior shows us the white industrial bucket filled with more than 150 needles. Some are for acupuncture, while the majority are the kind used for shooting drugs.

The suite was rented for three and a half months for $100 a night through Airbnb. Lim can't even estimate how much damage was done.

"We're going to file a complaint," he said. "A formal complaint."

Airbnb does have a $1 Million Host Guarantee Program in case of damages. The company sent us this statement in response to our story, saying they were in touch with the home's owner: "There have been over 300 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date. In 2017, there were more than 49 million trips at Airbnb listings worldwide. Significant property damage (claims that were reimbursed under our Host Guarantee program for over $1,000) was reported to us only 0.004% of the time. At that rate, you could host a new reservation every single day for over 63 years without expecting to file a significant property damage claim under our Host Guarantee."

Lim says this incident won't deter him from managing properties through rental sites again and in fact, plans to rent the same suite out again.

"I use Airbnb myself and I'm still very confidence using it or any other vacation rental site," he said. "Anybody is subject to this kind of vandalism."

The owners do plan to add security cameras outside the property before renting it out again.

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