We’re running into a looming concern with the Peerspace internal contract in that the contract never actually states clearly that guests waive all liability. It states that guests accept all responsibility for their booking, but nowhere does appear to actually include a direct liability waiver between host and guest.
HOWEVER
Peerspace forbids us from including our own liability waiver in our posted rules.
WHY AM I BRINGING THIS UP?
We are currently under fire from a guest (of a guest) who tripped on her own dress and fell down some stairs at our studio. She has been trying to get someone to pay for her emergency room visit. One of our legal counsel seems to think that “accepting all responsibility for your booking” is not the same as “waiving all liability” and since the group that booked the studio apparently has no insurance for their non-profit entity, we’re worried we’re going to be on the hook since host liability is unclear.
SOLUTION
I think it’s time for either Peerspace’s legal team to revisit the language they use in their booking contract and agree to include a formal declaration of liability waived, or allow us to add our own in the rules section.
UNLESS
Both my team and my lawyer missed something when we reviewed the Peerspace contract last week…in which case I just sound like a jackass and my apologies for raising alarms .
I rep many locations in NYC listed on Peerspace and I don’t allow any jobs without the client providing a COI (certificate of insurance). I don’t depend on Peerspace for any insurance issues. I’ve lost a few jobs when client doesn’t want to provide insurance, but too risky for me without.
Thank you for expressing your concerns and we appreciate your feedback. We’re sorry to hear that an attendee was injured at your venue and we hope the injuries were not serious.
We understand your concerns; however, it is important that Peerspace is fair to both hosts and guests, and allowing hosts to indicate that they are waived of all liability in the event of an incident at their venue would be unfair to our guests booking on the platform. We are elaborating on language in our terms that will have guests hold hosts harmless and indemnify them when claims arise due to the negligent conduct of guests and their attendees. Expect those updates soon.
You are certainly within your rights to require evidence of insurance from all guests booking your space.
Thank you again for your feedback and please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at help@peerspace.com if you have any questions!
That’s pretty good advice- do you have any recommendations for where to send guests who don’t already carry liability insurance? There’s Thimble, but I feel like I’ve heard some bad things about them. Thanks!
That makes sense, and I do hope those updates come through soon. I’ve always wondered about what would happen in the event of an incident as described by Christopher, especially if there were video evidence showing no fault on the part of the host. An indemnification agreement would be a great move that protects hosts from truly careless guests, while also protecting guests from negligent hosts.
It’s a complicated situation, we lease, this particular studio is in a 100-year old historic building, and the stairway she tripped on is both common space and potentially not-to-code, though possibly exempt due to age, but also not our responsibility to maintain, though she was using it to transit to and from our space specifically.
We also usually insist on getting the insurance documents but were lax this time because it was a registered non-profit and they are required to have insurance by law, so we made a bad judgement call and failed to insist on getting a copy. Turns out they don’t maintain one for some reason and I may find out more as time goes on
@Zoe_G I can understand Peerspace not wanting to add liability waivers to their general contract, but restricting us from including it in our own rules seems excessive, is there a reason for this?
I don’t know many studios that book without a liability waiver, nor many production companies that don’t require their crew and talent to sign them. It’s pretty standard industry practice.
I am confused about one thing: I never really read the insurance policy of Peerspace, but I believe that Peerspace said that booking through them included a one million dollar insurance for the host. What does it cover if not an incident like Christopher described?
Hi Yvonne - happy to help clarify here! The $1,000,000 coverage included for hosts on each booking is supplemental to your existing primary liability coverage which is required. We make our best efforts to support our hosts in the event of a covered claim but this is not a substitute for primary general liability coverage your business should already have in place. You can learn more information about the Host Insurance coverage at peaceofmind.peerspace.com. We are already looking for ways to improve the level of service we provide to hosts which may include an expansion of insurance offerings in the future.
Hi Yvonne - to provide more context, we support our hosts throughout the process when there are claims like this, they will just need to go through respective carriers in order for a claim to be evaluated against the coverage that is in place. The policy has always been structured this way and is why hosts are required to carry primary coverage for their business use. While we are thankful that claims remain very low, we do stress the importance of adequate coverage from all parties.
I completely agree. Your home insurance isn’t going to cover you once they find out you are using your house for business purposes, so you need insurance for your business being used at your home address.
I wish peerspace did not tell hosts they are “insured”, because in the past it really gave me that impression that they “insured” hosts when they do not insure hosts against these kinds of claims.
I agree with Tommy. Peerspace should not be telling hosts that they are insured or at least be clear that their insurance only kicks in after their own insurance is exhausted.
I make my guests sign a liability waiver, damage acceptance agreement, and to provide a credit card on file to only be charged in the case of accident. Luckily no injuries have taken place but damages have. I have always communicated to the customer what damages were done and the estimated cost to repair. There has always been a fair agreement leaving both parties happy with this approach.
Wow, thanks for brining up this topic Chris. This was a real eye opener. That Peace of Mind page that Zoe linked to is very misleading IMO - peaceofmind.peerspace.com. It doesn’t mention until the very end that this coverage is not a replacement for your existing coverage, and even there it doesn’t mention that you have to exhaust your own coverage first before Peerspace would consider chipping in. Maybe in one of the additional links to the Peerspace terms and conditions it states that but that really needs to be explicitly clear on this main insurance page. All over this page it sells you on the unprecedented coverage and peace of mind that this insurance offers and it does not do that at all. It even uses a fall down steps as an example of what would be covered on this page but that doesn’t really seem to be the case.
I figured that if someone hurt themselves in my space and it was a result of my own negligence, it would be my own problem with my insurance. However I did not assume that if someone came in here and set a bunch of my equipment on fire because they were idiots or improperly using it, I am not covered at all by Peerspace. I was under the impression that this was the whole point of the coverage here… to actually give hosts ‘unprecedented peace of mind’. I’ve had some low budget music videos shot in here where I know they did not have insurance but I was assuming Peerspace had me covered. At least that part is actually noted in the ‘what is not covered’ section on the peace of mind page. Bad on me for not understanding that.
Overall, this insurance seems completely useless. Can anyone give an example of when this insurance would actually kick in and be helpful? Only if someone falls down your stairs and has $1M+ of medical bills??
There is a good chance this will completely change the way I will conduct business now through this site. Do they really forbid you from asking for a COI or getting your own waiver? If so, then it really seems like we are being hung out to dry as hosts here because like Chris states above, that is a pretty necessary step and standard operating procedure on shoots. Damn… I need to go read those host agreements again.
Hi Yvonne. As this is sensitive legal advice, I would suggest discussing with a professional. Looking up Injury and Damage Liability Acceptance agreements may be a helpful place to start! These things are best handled by a legal team to be safe!
You can require a CoI, but you can’t add your own liability waiver to the rules and regulations section. You can require any guest who enters your space to manually fill one out when they arrive or using a separate online document but it can’t be part of the peerspace agreement and must be a private agreement with you off-platform.
It’s them covering their own ass but it needs to be more clearly stated - Peerspace should be pro-active about informing hosts about liability and steps they should take and in what ways they are covered and in what ways they are vulnerable.
I am with you Claudia! I do require my guests to sign my liability waivers and rental agreements because the Peerspace waivers are very ambiguous. I do require my guests to also provide COIs. I am not taking chances. Yes, I, too, have lost plenty of rental opportunities, but I can’t take the risk.
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