Airbnb ‘Tenant From Hell’ Who Refused to Pay for 570 Days Lastly Gone

• An Airbnb landlord stated a tenant stopped paying hire and battled to make her go away.
• On Friday, amid an ongoing authorized battle, the tenant lastly left the property.
• The tenant’s legal professional argues the owner had no proper to alter the locks after she left.

Aleksandar Jovanovic, a luxurious landlord in California preventing a prolonged authorized battle to evict an Airbnb “tenant from hell” who he stated was staying on his property rent-free since April 2022, is respiration a little bit simpler after this weekend.

Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the visitor he has been making an attempt to evict, lastly left on November 3 after he says she spent 570 days refusing to pay for her keep on the visitor suite on his Brentwood property. 

It took 570 days of authorized back-and-forth, roughly $60,000 in unpaid hire, and a police escort earlier than Elizabeth Hirschhorn lastly left the property on Friday, Sebastian Rucci, an legal professional for Jovanovic, instructed Insider.

However a cryptic electronic mail from Hirschhorn’s legal professional suggests the state of affairs is not over.

“It is a smear marketing campaign. The headlines are false,” Hirschhorn stated in a assertion emailed to Insider by her lawyer, Amanda Seaward. “This was by no means a 6-month Airbnb, we by no means had an agreed finish date of March 19, 2022, I didn’t refuse to pay hire, I didn’t demand $100,000 to go away or that any specific quantity have to be paid by Jovanovic for me to maneuver out. I used to be suggested to not communicate out straight away to set the file straight. Individuals do not know that the actual story could be very very completely different from what they’ve been instructed.” 

Earlier than she moved into the Brentwood location, Hirschhorn had been kicked out of a $2.6 million rental in Oakland, California, in July 2021, Insider beforehand reported.

An surprising move-out 

Jovanovic was dwelling on November 3 when he noticed a transferring crew taking objects out and in of the visitor suite of his Brentwood property, the place Hirschhorn had been staying, in response to a courtroom submitting submitted by Rucci that was reviewed by Insider.

When he requested the crew what they have been doing, they refused to reply, per the submitting, prompting Jovanovic to name the police over fears that the lads might transfer in alongside his unwelcome visitor.

Jovanovic had, over the previous 18 months, filed each a damages grievance to get well unpaid hire and an illegal detainer grievance to start eviction proceedings in opposition to Hirschhorn.

Hirschhorn had some successes in courtroom — together with, as Insider beforehand reported, a choose ruling in her favor, ordering that she couldn’t be evicted as a result of the unit had been improperly listed as a rental attributable to its lack of a certificates of occupancy or a allow to construct a bathe.

Regardless of the ruling in Hirschhorn’s favor stopping her from being evicted, the unit was emptied and returned to its proprietor the identical situation it was in when she first rented the unit in September 2021, per a movement by Jovanovic’s lawyer to dismiss the illegal detainer grievance.

Jovanovic stated police escorted Hirschhorn off the property. 

Seward, Hirschhorn’s lawyer, instructed Insider in an emailed assertion Hirschhorn was by no means escorted from the property, she by no means refused to pay hire, and as an alternative “determined to go to a different location for her private security attributable to excessive harassment by her landlord, together with the false tales and false headlines he has been planting within the press about her, his surveillance, and the doxxing of her and her associates, in addition to the situations on the property.” 

Inside an hour of watching Hirschhorn drive away, per Rucci’s movement to dismiss the eviction go well with in opposition to Hirschhorn, Jovanovic modified the locks.

A murky authorized combat

The difficulty began about 5 months after Hirschhorn moved into the visitor suite, per reporting by The Los Angeles Occasions, when she requested repairs on electrical blinds that had stopped working. After Jovanovic went to restore them, the outlet reported he observed water injury and mildew within the rest room sink that had not been there earlier than her tenancy and needed to have it remediated.

The Occasions reported Jovanovic supplied to pay for Hirschhorn to remain in a resort whereas the repairs have been accomplished, however she declined. He invited her to remain in his visitor room, per the outlet, however she refused, citing an allergy to cat dander. 

Jovanovic claims Hirschhorn paid for about 5 months of hire when she initially leased the visitor suite at $105 per night time, then stopped paying in April 2022 — after she had contacted a housing division investigator, Pedro Gonzalez, alleging she was going through unlawful eviction, harassment, and nonpayment of relocation charges.

Hirschhorn had refused to relocate until Jovanovic paid her $100,000, the Occasions reported, citing a settlement supply the outlet reviewed. She later counter-sued Jovanovic, per the Occasions, alleging he “inappropriately invited” her to maneuver into his home.

Hirschhorn additionally contacted the Los Angeles Division of Constructing and Security, in response to the Occasions. The division recognized two code violations within the unit relating to the certificates of occupancy and the bathe set up allow. 

Hirschhorn’s lawyer instructed Insider she solely went to the housing division after Jovanovic “tried to evict Ms. Hirschhorn on every week’s discover in the midst of March 2022, after she had paid the following month’s hire as agreed, had an prolonged rental settlement by way of a yr, and after she had paid practically $24,000 in hire since transferring in.”

Jovanovic was in the end pressured to withdraw his eviction notices till he might show to town that the unit was in compliance — however he stated Hirschhorn would not let him inside to finish any repairs, Insider beforehand reported, at the least till this weekend, when Hirschhorn left the property for security causes, in response to her lawyer.

Although he plans to get the mandatory permits to hire the unit out once more ultimately, Jovanovic stated in a follow-up Los Angeles Occasions article that, for now, he is turning the area right into a recreation room for his two youngsters. 

However, after she left, Hirschhorn’s lawyer stated in a November 4 electronic mail that Jovanovic “jumped the gun” by altering the locks.

“Ms. Hirschhorn had mentioned with me concern over the fixed harassment and surveillance, and in addition the need to get the issues repaired that wanted to be repaired,” Hirschhorn’s legal professional, Seward, wrote in an electronic mail to Jovanovic’s lawyer that was reviewed by Insider. “Topic to my discussions with Ms. Hirschhorn, please be suggested that you don’t have any authority to alter the locks or to imagine abandonment of the unit. Additional, you’ve violated the legislation by coming into with out permission and altering the locks.”

Jovanovic’s lawyer considers the notion that Hirschhorn would return absurd and instructed Insider his shopper intends to observe by way of along with his lawsuit in search of again hire from the lady. 

“The assertion by her lawyer that she might return is an indication of the venom that the cottage business of harassers makes use of to terrorize pleasant landlords like Sascha,” Rucci stated in an emailed assertion to Insider.

He added: “The excellent news is she didn’t get a dime in extortion cash. There isn’t a foundation for Elizabeth Hirschhorn to terrorize Sascha. She secured 570 days of free hire and harassed him to no finish. Their many arguments that she had a proper to remain within the unit have been absurd. You can not gown these arguments up; it is like placing lipstick on a pig.”