Imagine you own an Airbnb, and what was supposed to be a six-month rental turned into a nearly two-year-long battle trying to remove a renter who says they won't leave, demanding a $100,000 relocation fee.
That's what's happening to Sascha Jovanovic of Brentwood, who says the tenant Elizabeth Hirschhorn's stay ended in April of last year but she just isn't leaving
In a lawsuit filed in June 2023, Jovanovic alleges Hirschhorn rented his Crestwood Hills Airbnb from Sept. 13, 2021 to March 19, 2022 and for the first four months everything was fine.
[iframe https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d19656.18621065924!2d-118.50971239226286!3d34.076747128228256!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x80c2a332f4e35ba7%3A0x71180716cf99295!2sCrestwood%20Hills%2C%20Los%20Angeles%2C%20CA%2090049!5e1!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1696646037894!5m2!1sen!2sus allowfullscreen="" height="450" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" style="border:0" width="600"]After discovering a leak in the house, Jovanovic sent mold inspectors to check on the unit and that's when things changed.
Hirschhorn reportedly refused to let them in, and is refusing to leave. Jovanovic alleges she even called the police, who determined it was a landlord-tenant dispute.
Jovanovic said he was charging Hirschhorn $105 a night, and by the time he filed the lawsuit in June, Hirschhorn owed him $42,840 for the 408 days she had overstayed.
Jovanovic's suit was dismissed this week when a judge ruled he could not evict Hirschhorn.
Hirschhorn has since filed a countersuit.
The countersuit alleges, among other things, that because Jovanovic did not obtain a certificate of occupancy for the unit from the City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, the most he could charge for rent is $0.00.
Sebastian Rucci, attorney for Jovanovic's, spoke with L.A.'s Afternoon News. He said the situation was made complicated by COVID.
He said, "When her lease terminated in April of last year, that was during a COVID moratorium on eviction, so she took advantage of that," but said it is not clear if the moratorium even applies in this situation.
Once the moratorium ended earlier this year, Rucci took over as Jovanovic's attorney and filed two new lawsuits—the first, detailing the concerns with the previous suit and the second, for damages.
Rucci said the plan is to get a judgment against Hirschhorn to avoid getting "extorted" for the $100,000 and to prevent her from doing it again.
Thanks to extensive coverage of the story, Rucci said they recently found out that Hirschhorn had allegedly done something similar in Oakland before she came down to Los Angeles.
Rucci said he hopes that standing their ground in this case will prevent other people from taking advantage of landlords in this way.
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