Pocono Short-Term Rental Disaster - Management, Legal, Insurance?

[Brian Fisher]

Hi All,

I have a story with a few layers of issues and I'm interested in advice on how best to handle. To set the stage, I'm owner of a short-term rental property in the Poconos in PA and we use a property management company for bookings, maintenance/cleaning, guest management, etc.

This past weekend we had a guest booking but when the guests arrived Friday evening the house had no running water, though it had been running fine earlier in the day when the Property manager (PM) was at the house to give a final check and leave the welcome packet. The PM had a plumber go to the house, incurring an after-hours emergency fee, but was unable to assess the exact cause of the issue at night, stating it's either a frozen pipe or pump issue and they need to return during the daytime to fully address. He stated he turned off the breaker to the pump to avoid damage. The PM reported the update to me Friday night around 9PM, and we agreed the guests could not stay at the house and the property management company had another property to which they could relocate the guests for their weekend stay. PM stated the plumber could return Monday to assess and fix the issue or return over the weekend but incur another after-hours fee. Since we'd already lost the guest fee for the weekend, we chose to wait rather than incur another after-hours fee.

After midnight on Friday night at approximately 1AM, a Ring alert was triggered by an outdoor camera at the property. Security investigated to find the renters still at our house. The renters noted they had been told very late by the property management company that the other house was available and asked them if it would be ok to stay the night at our house, despite not having water, because it was so late. Apparently, our property management company agreed to that without communicating with me.

I contacted the plumber directly on Monday and they said they could get to the house on Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, the PM had a cleaner go to the house just to check and see if the water was still not working, which it was not.

On Tuesday, the plumber got to the house to find it had been flooded due to running water from a sink faucet in a 2nd floor bathroom. As a result, we have significant water damage to the floor and rugs in that 2nd floor bathroom and a bedroom, plus there is even more significant damage to ceilings, walls, furniture, and rugs to 2 bedrooms on the first floor.

Our initial goal is to dry as much water as possible with wet-vacs and dehumidifiers. The PM advised a public adjuster assess the damage. The plumber noted that despite the faucet being left on, there had to be a blockage to cause water to significantly overflow as it did, which is what should be reported to the insurance company.

But, as I mentioned in the intro, there are a few issues here. I need damage assessed and fixed as quickly as possible. Are there going to be issues with an insurance claim? I think there is negligence here, but is it provable? Is there a legal recourse?

Any advice would be welcome.