Ritzy California coastal town at war as multimillionaire Malibu ‘Karens’ post ‘fake’ private property signs to keep visitors off gorgeous PUBLIC beach

It appears that wealthy elites along the California coast are placing “fake” “private property” signs on public beaches near their waterfront mansions in order to extend their extremely privileged lifestyles for free.

The epicenter of the ongoing battle between regular beachgoers and owners of the palatial beaches in expensive Malibu is Lechuza Beach, a thin strip of sand that is accessible to the public via three access points, according to California State Coastal Protection.

But judging by a sign one TikTokker came across while walking along the otherwise pristine beach, some thought they were trespassing.

The signs that in his video read in capital letters: ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY’ and ‘THIS BEACH AREA IS ON PRIVATE LAND. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.’

As he panned across the beach, the man behind the camera said of the sign, “This is free land, anyone can be here. …This is a scam. A Karen scam.”

The video then shows a confrontation between him and an unknown older man holding a bottle of Bud Light and trying to knock the phone out of his hand.

“You just attacked me by taking my phone,” the TikToker said.

The older man objected to being filmed without his consent, to which the TikTokker reminded him that they were on public property.

“You are not on public property,” the older man said.

But according to the California Coastal LawAll beaches are open to the public up to the mean high tide line, which is generally interpreted as where the sand becomes wet.

In the TikTok video, the “No Trespassing” sign appears to be planted firmly in the wet sand. In other words, it’s well past the high-water mark that California law considers public property.

The sign even says: ‘PUBLIC ACCESS ALONG THE MEAN HIGH FLOOD LINE.’

It’s unclear who put up the private property sign, but it does identify the protected land as “Malibu Encinal Homeowner Beach Lots.”

DailyMail.com contacted the Malibu Encinal Homeowner’s Association to find out the possible origins of this sign.

Lisa Haage, chief enforcement officer for the California Coastal Commission, said she is aware of the incident and is taking steps to eliminate confusion about what area is public and what area is private.

“We have just received reports of this issue and are investigating the situation,” she wrote in an email to SFGate.

‘Public access is the cornerstone of the Coastal Act and the Commission takes these issues very seriously.’

It’s not the first time Malibu has come under fire for trying to lure the average visitor away from its beaches in favor of the beautiful villas that dot the coast.

According to Zillow, the average price of a home in Malibu is a whopping $3.46 million.

Last July, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), the government agency that owns Lechuza Beach, accused Malibu city officials of intentionally removing beach access signs to reduce the number of people visiting the beach.

“Don’t you wish you could find all of Malibu’s “secret” public beaches? So do we!” MRCA wrote in a Instagram post criticism of the city.

“But if we put up public signs, the city of Malibu removes them!”

This battle over who has the right to be on Lechuza Beach goes back to 2010when the MRCA first proposed adding the three public access gates that still stand today.

Even then, government agencies accused homeowners and homeowners associations of conspiring to restrict access to the beach.

An angry woman’s highly visible attempt to keep beachgoers off her Laguna Beach property went viral on social media earlier this week.

Stunned bystanders shared a clip of the woman’s tantrum on tourists outside her $6 million home on TikTok last week.

But the fight isn’t even limited to beaches. Some homeowners have gone so far as to try to block access to public walkways that run past their properties.

In March 2024, six residents of an affluent Santa Barbara County town faced massive fines if they failed to remove boulders they allegedly placed in a parking lot leading to a popular hiking trail. SF port reported.

If they fail to comply with the warnings from the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department, they risk civil and criminal penalties, as well as a new fine of $850 for each day they fail to remove the obstructions.