Airbnb squatter moves out of Brentwood home
A Brentwood woman, who lived in paradise rent free for 570 days, finally left a rental property after a long legal battle with the landlord.
The tenant, Elizabeth Hirschhorn, rented the guest house from Dr. Sascha Jovanovic more than two years ago, finally moved out on Friday, according to the LA Times.
During her contentious stay, she clashed with Jovanovic, and they both wound up suing each other, with the tenant initially arguing the two had agreed to a long-term lease outside of the Airbnb platform.
Jovanovic listed his modern studio guesthouse on Airbnb several years ago when Hirschhorn booked a six month stay in September 2021.
Jovanovic says it was fine for the first four months until February of 2022 when he discovered water damage in the guesthouse, and she suddenly prevented him from making any repairs. He then extended her stay through April of 2022 to give her time to move.
That's when she stopped paying rent and refused to leave, saying she had health complications and tenant protections.
"I told her she could stay another 2 weeks at no cost so she could relocate herself, but that was taken in the wrong way, and she just squatted and never left," said Jovanovic.
In a statement from Hirschhorn's attorney, they said Jovanovic "intentionally not disclosed that he agreed to a long-term lease with the tenant outside of the Airbnb platform. It was never a 6-month lease. He lies to cover up all the rent she paid and her willingness to pay even higher rent."
Airbnb says the reservation through its platform ended officially in March 2022 so now it is a third-party matter between two individuals.
After Hirschhorn moved out on Friday, Jovanovic quickly changed the locks and hopes Hirschhorn will not return.
