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

Wealthy California coastal elites appear to be putting up 'fake' private property signs on public beaches near their waterfront mansions to expand their uber-privileged lifestyle for free.

The epicenter of the ongoing battle between regular beachgoers and owners of the palatial spreads in pricey Malibu is Lechuza Beach, a thin strip of sand that is open to the public via three access points, according to California's State Coastal Conservancy.

But based on one sign a TikToker came across during his walk on the otherwise pristine beach, some would come away thinking they were trespassing.

The signs shown in his video read in all caps: 'PRIVATE PROPERTY' and 'THIS BEACH AREA IS ON PRIVATE LOTS. TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.'

As he panned around the beach, the man behind the camera said of the sign: 'This is free land, anybody can be here. ...This is a scam. A Karen scam.'

The video then cuts to the middle of a confrontation between him and an unknown older man holding a bottle of Bud Light, who tried to knock the phone from his hand.

'You just attacked me by grabbing my phone,' the TikToker said.

The older man objected to being recorded without his permission, to which the TikToker reminded him they were on public property.

'You're not on public property,' the older man said. 

But according to the California Coastal Act, all beaches are open to the public up to the mean high tide line. This is generally interpreted as wherever the sand gets wet.

In the TikTok video, it appears that the 'no trespassing' sign is placed firmly in wet sand, in other words, well past the high-tide line California law says is deemed public.

The sign even says, 'PUBLIC ACCESS ALONG MEAN HIGH TIDE LINE.' 

It's unclear who put up the private property sign, though it calls the property being protected 'Malibu Encinal Homeowner Beach Lots.'

DailyMail.com reached out to the Malibu Encinal Homeowner's Association to ascertain the possible origins of this sign.

Lisa Haage, chief of enforcement for the California Coastal Commission, said she's aware of this incident and is taking steps to address the overall confusion about which land is public and which is private.

'We just got reports about 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.'

This isn't the first time Malibu has come under fire for trying to steer the average visitor away from beaches in front of the gorgeous mansions that line the coast. 

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

In July of last year, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), the public agency that owns Lechuza Beach, accused Malibu city officials of purposely removing beach access signs so fewer people would visit.

'Don't you wish you could find all of Malibu's "secret" public beaches? We do too!' MRCA wrote in an Instagram post criticizing the city.

'But when we do install public signage, the City of Malibu removes it!'

This fight over who has the right to be on Lechuza Beach goes as far back as 2010, when the MRCA first proposed adding the three public access gates that remain there to this day. 

Even back then, state agencies were accusing homeowners and HOAs alike of colluding to restrict beach access.

A particularly visible attempt from an enraged woman to get beachgoers away from her Laguna Beach property went viral on social media earlier this week.

Astonished onlookers shared a clip of the woman's tantrum at tourists outside her $6 million home on TikTok last week.

But the battle is not even limited to beaches. Some homeowners have gone so far as to try to cut off access to public hiking trails that run through near their properties. 

In March 2024, six residents of an affluent Santa Barbara County town were hit threats of giant fines if they didn't remove the boulders they allegedly placed in a parking lot that led to a popular trail, SFGate reported.

Failure to comply with the notices from the Santa Barbara County public works department would open them up to civil and criminal penalties, as well as a fresh $850 fine on their doorstep every day they didn't remove the obstructions.