'Hobbit' house renamed after threat of lawsuit from entertainment company

The owner of a British Columbia Airbnb property paying tribute to the fantasy race of hobbits from The Lord of the Rings has been forced to change the name of her property after being threatened with a lawsuit.

Christina Le Comte bought the Hobbit Mountain Hole in 2020 as part of a larger purchase of a ranch in B.C.'s Thompson Okanagan area.

She alleges Warner Bros., the entertainment company that distributed the Hobbit movie series, contacted her last week threatening to launch a lawsuit if she didn't change the name.

Warner Bros. did not immediately return a request for comment.

The property has now been renamed the Second Breakfast Hideaway, a nod to a Hobbit's love of meals, and Le Comte hopes that is enough to dissuade the entertainment giant from pursuing legal action.

She says people rent the property to escape from the stress of day-to-day life.

"It really gives people a place to disconnect,'' she said Sunday. "It's not just people who come here who are huge Lord of the Rings fans, it's people who want to come and have an escape.''

The house is built into the earth, much like the famous Bag End home in the movie and film series, and features furniture and decorations inspired by the fantasy series.

The property sits on a ranch owned by Le Comte and her husband, with no one else around for several kilometres, which Le Comte says adds to the sense of escape.

But she said once the threat of a lawsuit was found to be genuine, she knew she had to change the name of her rental property.

"There's no way in the world I can take on these guys,'' she said.

Le Comte said she will be contacting Warner Bros. to inform it of the name change in the coming days.