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Can I sue if I am injured while staying at a vacation rental?

Instead of staying at a hotel in Florida for your vacation, you decided to stay at a short-term home rental that you found on a travel site to save some money. During your stay, you slipped and fell on the steps and broke your leg. Now you are wondering if you can sue the property owner. There were no railings for you to hold on to prevent your fall. Upon closer inspection, you noticed that one of the stairs was broken. You might be able to sue the property owner for premises liability to recover compensation for your injuries if they did not keep their property in a reasonably safe condition.

Vacation property owners are running their businesses out of their homes. According to Forbes.com, this makes them responsible for anything that happens to anyone on their properties, including short-term vacation renters. Your injuries occurred because the property owners failed to repair the stairs. They also did not have safety railings or banisters in place that could have helped to prevent your fall.

Due to the nature of short-term stays, vacation homeowners should inspect their properties before and after each tourist checks in to ensure there are no hazards or repair issues that can cause accidents. If there are concerns, they should resolve them before anyone checks in. If they are not able to, they should make every effort possible to warn their guests of any unsafe conditions.

No one ever expects to have accidents while they are on vacation. But they can and do happen. Before you make any future travel and vacation plans, you should carefully research your short-term living arrangements so you can reduce the likelihood of accidents in the future.