Airbnb 'Tenant From Hell' Refuses To Leave Or Pay For LA Guesthouse

LOS ANGELES — An Airbnb user who moved into a Brentwood homeowner’s guesthouse over two years ago has not paid rent in more than a year and refuses to leave, instead claiming the landlord should give her $100,000 to move, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Elizabeth Hirschhorn rented the guesthouse from Sascha Jovanovic in September 2021 for a six-month stay at a rate of $105 per night, the Times reported, adding that her March 19, 2022, move-out date was informally extended to April 12, 2022. It’s been over 540 days since then, and she’s still there, according to the Times.

“Psychologically, it affects you,” Jovanovic told the Times. “It never leaves my mind.”

The guesthouse didn’t have occupancy approval and its shower was not permitted, the Times reported, and because of the code violations, Jovanovic has no grounds to evict Hirschhorn or charge her rent and should instead reimburse her for the rent she already paid, she has argued. Hirschhorn won’t let him inside to fix the violations, according to the Times.

“The landlord broke the law and tried to make money by renting out an illegal bootleg unit,” Hirschhorn's lawyer, Colin Walshok, told the Times.

Her six-month tenancy in the guesthouse qualifies Hirschhorn for just cause protection, meaning Jovanovic must pay for her relocation if there’s no legal purpose for her eviction, the Times reported.

A lawsuit filed by Jovanovic seeking to evict Hirschhorn was dismissed by a judge, according to the Times, which reported he is also trying to recoup about $58,000 in rent and she has sued him for emotional distress and violation of tenant protections, among other things.

“She’s the tenant from hell,” Jovanovic’s attorney, Sebastian Rucci, told the Times. “If she’s right, the theory is that if a landlord has something that isn’t permitted, then you can stay in it rent-free forever.”

Because Jovanovic extended the lease outside of the Airbnb platform, the issue is now a third-party matter, according to the Times.

Just months before Hirschhorn moved into Jovanovic’s guesthouse, she settled a similar case in which she refused for over a year to pay rent or leave a $2.6 million home in Oakland, the Daily Mail reported.