Haunt Forum banner

Can we get shut down? Heck ya. It is up to you to do the research.

78K views 82 replies 48 participants last post by  DEMON DEAN 
#1 ·
This topic has come up every year when someone's haunt gets shut down and a reminder warning was brought up at the last Colorado gathering. Since we have a new influx of members it's time to get y'all thinking about safety.

In Fort Collins, Colorado, ALL haunted houses are required to obtain a permit and pass a fire inspection. It doesn't matter if you are charging admission or not the rules must be followed. Now, there is no distinction between a "haunted house" and a "yard haunt" on the government website but the rumor at the Colorado gathering was that yard haunts also had to follow the same rules.

Here's what the haunters in Fort Collins have to do:
1. All haunted houses must conform to the Uniform Building Code for temporary buildings or structures.
2. No fire protection systems (alarms or sprinklers) in any building shall be obstructed by the construction of this haunted house.
3. “NO SMOKING” signs must be posted at the entrance.
4. There shall be trained staff members with flashlights available at all times. These staff members must know the interior maze, exit facilities, and enforce “no smoking” restrictions within the area.
5. No readily combustible material can be used for construction or decoration in the haunted house unless it is treated with a flame-retardant chemical. NO BLACK PLASTIC IS ALLOWED.
6. All electrical wiring must conform to the National Electrical Code for temporary installations.
7. Fire extinguishers of at least a 2A rating must be placed every 75 feet of travel distance. The trained staff must know where they are and how to use them.
8. Customers may be required to be escorted through the haunted houses by haunted house staff, i.e. 10 in/10 out.
9. Additional single station smoke detectors may be required by the Fire Marshal.
An on-site consultation and inspection of the area to be utilized as a “haunted house”

What sort of rules do you have to follow in your city?

Another huge WTH was that home haunts and pro haunts had to carry additional insurance (home owners insurance wasn't enough). I haven't found anything online yet to back this up. Apparently the fraternities and sororities may have been playing fast and loose with public safety (rumor) and the city government decided to drop the hammer before anyone got hurt.

Revenant mentioned fire inspections and black plastic on Hauntcast a few shows back. It was an important warning. Did you know that fabric/plastic that has been treated with a fire retardant has a shelf life of a YEAR??? That's right. One year, one season. That means there could be haunts out there that will not pass a fire inspection due to 366 day old material.

If you are doing a walk though or haunted house it is up to you to make sure that your structure passes codes. All it takes is one neighbor or one rival haunt to make a call to the fire department and get you shut down.

Take a few moments, do the research and protect yourself and your hobby/passion/addiction.
 
See less See more
#46 · (Edited)
Ok, so the haunt is on the property that my father and I own. However, he actually does have a residence there, I do not. So, he can have coverage under his home owners insurance? Reading what everyone has written, combined with not being able to find an agency that will insure our business, has made me very worried about even having another season. Even if we have insurance, who's to say some idiot might not sue the hell out of us and take everything we own anyway? Maybe this is just not worth pursuing any further. I absolutely love doing the haunted woods, but I don't have the money to hire an attorney for this business. It doesn't even generate enough money for that expense, not yet anyway. With it being in the woods, I feel certain someone will at least fall down at some point in time, or some dummy run into a tree or something, even if they are not seriously injured. I don't want to loose our property because some jerk twisted his ankle trying to kick at a prop or tripped over something or whatever. Should I just forget about doing this all together? I planned on having insurance before we opened this year anyway. But, now I am thinking if someone can still sue us and take our property, even with having insurance, what is the point?
 
#48 ·
Who you gonna call!

Hi, I've been using Ken Donat's insurance company. He has bought the haunted house business end of it and speciallizes in it. You can find him at Donat Insurance Services, LLC., www.DonatInsurance.com or ken@donatinsurance.com.

I've had no problem with him coming up with coverage and everything was done over the web or phone.

I've been a firm believer in having too much insurance. Remember, it only takes ONE person to get injured.

My wife just said "What if they have a heart attack and no insurance?" I'll have to call Ken and see what he says.

CYA all the time!!!
 
#50 ·
I do a home haunt and am kind of lucky because the town I live in says I am actually covered under their policy because they have turned my haunt into an event for the week. With that said, we do not charge and my insurance guy said because there is no charge, we are covered under the homeowners anyway. the catch with that is we do not charge. Donations are always welcome! I think you have to buy commercial insurance of you charge even a dollar.
 
#51 ·
DD, You might want to ask your insurance agent again and specifically tell him that you take donations, as in a donations box maybe??? I remember speaking with an insurance agent haunter years ago who said that donations were considered "implied admission fees", and that they would also void your homeowners insurance, maybe even supersede the towns coverage of your haunt as well.
 
#54 ·
I think what everyone is saying here is that it is better to be safe than sorry. Every state has different laws in how they define what a haunted house is. If you just let people walk by and see without them going into a building or property then you are probably safe.

But if you allow people to come onto your yard or you have a walk through then you really should check out how your local city says classifies your haunt. It really doesn't matter if you charge or not, heck even asking for cans of food to give to charities is a form of admission.

So I guess I would say, that it's better for all of us to check with our own insurance company and local city just so we don't get our you know what in a sling! :jol:
 
#55 ·
As far as haunts go, we live in great times! Every age has its golden moment. NO WAY did this happen in The '70s! There may have been a few here'n'there for charity, but I don't recall.

Yup, good points raised. Best to be safe than sorry and as always, use common sense ... 'cuz I sure don't have taste, baby!
 
#56 ·
what if, to offset the extra insurance fees and whatnot in october, your haunt group holds several charity drives and bake sales? then you won't have to give up on your haunt dream, because you'll have made the money for most of the fees already.

i believe that even if a haunt is really small or for a charity, you should run it like a business. businesses need plans, plans and more plans, and since we already take all year before and after the haunting season to prepare our props for our haunts, why not take all year to prepare the legal stuff, not just research to make sure our ducks are in a row the week or so before we open.

the insurance thing scares the bajebzus outta my hubbs. it's alot of money here. but i guess anything in this economy is alot. our insurance agent quoted us something horrible about 3 years ago when we first got our house, and it was so horrible i blocked it out of my memory.....but our agent acted like it was a hassle, and we shouldn't even attempt it.
later i find out that he has no knowledge the company's policies on haunt insurance and didn't want to look it up for laziness.
dar.
<3
 
#57 ·
I live in a small town of like 1,000 people and as far as i know we have no codes. Hell we only have one cop! haha.. I do a walk through and i post a sign "enter at your own risk blah blah blah"... If you get hurt. Too damn bad i'm not paying for nuttin! Thats what the signs there for lol
 
#58 ·
Frank, you can go to city hall and the fire department and request copies of the building and fire code. They have to give it to you because it is a matter of public record. You might have to pay a small fee for the cost of ink and paper. But, if it helps keep you from getting shut down, a couple of bucks is worth it, in my opinion.

That reminds me, I need to do that Wednesday...
 
#64 ·
Code enforcement left a business card on my door today and a note that said please call. I'm sure if I had a violation I would have got a ticket or warning. I am hoping that they want to know if I charge or not. I don't charge so I hope there will be no issues. At the first of the month when I started to build, my neighbor was trying to preach to me. I finally made it clear I didn't want to hear it! I wonder if she called the city on me?
 
#67 ·
ive been doing my haunt since 2004 and its only been the last 4 years ive ever had any one from the city stop by the first time it was code enforcement, I gave them a guide walk through, they where more interested in how I made the props than any thing else,, the only code thing they asked was weather I charged ,, told them no and they said I was good to go ,, if I charged I needed a permit.

the second year on Halloween night we had the police stop by about a hour before opening,, they asked if wee could open early because there was a huge line out front and it was out in the street lol.. we now open a 90 mins earlier on Halloween. needless to say we opened -) we cant see the entrance to the haunt from the house so had no idea the line was that large.. the officer did come back later that night ,, but brought there familys to go through the haunt,,, there regular visitors as well as other city employees.

the 3rd year we actually had the fire Marshal stop by.. when he say the fire extinguishers, no smoking signs, and the fact that we had a 100 foot water hose hocked up that could reach to the entrance or the exit depending on which way you went.. he grumbled and left..

the attitude of the fire maeshal gave me such a bad taste in my mouth that after Halloween was over I contacted my attorney and told him about it, found out some interesting info for my city. inless its a business the Fire marshal cant just walk on to your property and demand to go through things. private property as in my case they have to have a court order, aka a search warrant in order to even come on the property. they can however close down any thing they can see from the city street that they feel is a fire risk, though they have to put it in writing and you have 15 to 30 days to comply. instantly if they think its a big enough risk. my attorney said the best thing to do was exactly what I had done ,, give them a quick walk through show them the safety guards and escort them off the property..

last year we had no official visit from the city but did have members of the city council, the police and code enforcement bring there family by to go through the haunt..

Basic rule of thumb for home haunting:
Fire extinguishers
water hoses if available
no smoking signs
3 to 4 foot wide hallways
fire retardant on those things that need it
and if you can afford it.. low voltage lighting
 
#69 · (Edited)
Best way to play safe

In regards to home haunts the best thing to do is call your local fire department and ask to speak to the local marshal / chief / LT and invite them over before you open and tell them you want to know how to make your haunt as safe possible.
You say that to them and nine times out of ten you'll have a friend.
It shows you care, you want to learn from someone who knows with experience and just make them feel wanted there.
I know, I worked in a fire dept for several years and did pre opening walk throughs, inspections, investigations.
But still being on the other side now after all these years of building pro haunt sets I have yet to run into a fire marshal that didn't give us a hard time unless we deserved it over looking something on the pro level and with some of the charity house haunts that had high flow rates.
Home haunts are hard to shut down or fine for that matter unless your charging money.
Professional haunts are fair game due to the traffic flow and they're making money.
To have a home haunt walk through and get shut down you would have to something really really ludicrous to get get nabbed.
One thing I do remember, in the extremely ritzy neighborhoods of million dollar homes where they have retarded things neighborhood zone codes, like lawn codes / appearance codes that are enforced by the neighborhood home assembly mafia then those home haunts could be shut down for no reason what so ever.
I had that experience one time for a charity haunt we helped.
 
#77 ·
Hi all. I was reading through this and this year I was contemplating jumping from a yard haunt/display to a garage haunt. But I am seriously considering just nixing that idea and making my yard/driveway bigger and more packed with stuff rather than trying the garage thing. I think it would be fun to have the inside haunt rather than just a yard display, but like another poster mentioned, after the initial shock of what it takes to build a safe garage haunt most people figure its not worth it. I really like getting some scares in and its hard if kids know that you are standing up near the front door. Last year I had a witch scene in the front part of my garage and as the TOTs walked by to go up to the front door I came out of the garage where I was hidden. It was a great scare, and definitely alot of fun. THen I thought, well if that was fun, it sure would be alot of fun to build a haunted house in the garage. Ive been going back and forth and the liability factor kind of bums me out. I know alot of people do it, but still it only takes one kid getting hurt. Just some thoughts, I think that with the big driveway I have I might want to utilize that and make a cool trail that comes up to the house and maybe make the garage like a theatrical scene (like a witch shack or Vampires lair) and that would get my geek jones to make that kind of thing out but still not open myself up to problems. I could have actors in the driveway behind a masoleum, witches shack and fake tree. Just thinkin and drinkin. THanks All my awesome Haunt fiends.
 
#78 ·
FWIW, I recently moved out of Fort Collins, which I see is the genesis of this thread, and the city government is super easy to deal with. I would suspect that the issues were -- as indicated -- the result of frats pushing the envelope too much. Otherwise, the city never seemed to sweat much, generally speaking.

Now for a few caveats: (1) I didn't have a walk-through and didn't charge anything; and (2) I can't caution everyone enough to both check your local laws and have adequate insurance (which you've verified is adequate). Both are critical, as the rules change once you invite folks onto your property (as opposed to simply owning the home), especially if you're charging anything.

Cheers!
 
#80 ·
^I believe the answer is that charging could put you into the category of a professional haunt, which means it's a business, which means the rules of business in terms of licensing and insurance apply.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top