NFPA Journal - Fall 2023 - 62

property owners don't want to; they haven't been
given enough education on why it's so important to
look out for their guests' safety. Many don't realize
the safety ownership they assume when they offer
their short-term rental to the general public. Many
more don't want to do anything beyond what they
are required to do, assuming that since they aren't
required to do it, then it must not be very important.
Regulations also stipulate room capacities for
hotels, as well as egress requirements. The maximum
number of occupants permitted is predicated on the
available number and capacity of means of egress.
No such occupancy requirement exists for shortterm
rentals. As a result, occupant capacities in
short-term rentals can be significant problems;
generally speaking, in most locations around the
country, short-term rental owners can advertise for
and allow as many people as they want. Search the
popular listing sites and you'll easily find thousands
of short-term rentals advertised to sleep more-in
some cases many more-people than the bedrooms
would typically hold in a normal residential setting.
I recently saw a short-term rental listing in Maine
that advertised a three-bedroom home capable of
sleeping more than 16 people. Such a setup might
be safe, but it also might not be.
Compounding the problem of capacity is egress,
which is one of the most ignored safety issues in the
short-term rental industry. Thousands of rentals have
been created in spaces that would never be permitted
in commercial settings. Sleeping areas are improvised
in attics and lofts that lack legal egress windows;
many are set up as places for children to sleep. In a
fire, heat and smoke rise to these locations rapidly,
making escape even more difficult. Other property
owners add bedroom spaces in the basements of their
urban homes but don't install egress windows or
doors. Commercial properties are required to include
stairs or ladders in non-sprinklered sleeping rooms
more than 20 feet above the ground, but they aren't
required for elevated beach homes in places like Cape
Hatteras, North Carolina, or tall and skinny urban
rentals in cities including Nashville, Tennessee. Local
governments regard these properties as residential
and have little oversight to address egress concerns,
even though the properties are being used as shortterm
rentals. The insurance industry contributes to
this safety lapse by not addressing it as part of the
underwriting process for a rental policy.
These are just a few of the concerns that illustrate
the problems we face with safety in short-term rentals-problems
that are largely unnecessary. A hotel
guest who reported that there was no fire extinguisher
in the hall and that they tripped walking up
the stairs because there was no handrail would have
the immediate attention of hotel management, and
the problems would be promptly addressed and followed
up with inspection by local safety officials. If
a passenger on a commercial aircraft reported that
their seat belt didn't buckle and something appeared
to be wrong with the seal around the window, the
flight would be delayed until the problems were
inspected; if they couldn't be fixed, a different aircraft
would be summoned. In the short-term rental
62 | NFPA JOURNAL * FALL 2023
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NFPA Journal - Fall 2023

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