STR question: Liability for equipment in a locked room?
I'd like to add a home gym to a 3BR home I own in NC for when I'm staying in it. When I am not occupying the unit, I intend to rent it out as a STR. The gym would include "dangerous" equipment like free weights.
Let's assume I'm reasonably paranoid about liability lawsuits, etc, but want to stay grounded in legal reality for this question. If I marketed the unit as 2BR and figured out how to deadbolt the gym room (thinking a remotely controllable lock w/audit logs), would I still need to be concerned w/personal liability from the locked room? Let's also assume the room is always genuinely locked and I'll have a reasonable way to argue this, e.g. something beyond "it should have been locked".
My thoughts:
- 1) It's a locked door, literally no one will know there's a gym on the other side
- 2) Worst case is that someone broke in, worked out or claimed to work out, and filed a lawsuit saying they used the home gym and injured themself
If I have evidence the person broke into the room (e.g. video from the inside of them breaking the door/lock), would I still be realistically liable?