Airbnb renter refuses to leave $3.8 million LA pad after 540 days - and judge backs her case

5 October 2023, 01:06

An Airbnb renter in Los Angeles has refused to leave the plush pad she moved into some 540 days ago, with a US judge even backing her effort to remain in the multi-million pound mansion.

Sascha Jovanovic, an established dentist in the Brentwood area of California, decided to list the guesthouse attached to his $3.8 million Brentwood mansion on home rental site Airbnb in September 2021.

The listing was rented by Elizabeth Hirschhorn who moved in shortly after. However, 540 days on, she is refusing to leave unless she's paid $100,000.

The bizarre stand-off has become the subject of a bitter lawsuit, which has seen Mr Jovanovic attempt to remove Ms Hirschhorn who he now deems to be a squatter.

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According to an LA judge, Mr Javanovic has no right to remove the 'tenant', given a recent change in the law.

“I can never go into my home and know that I’m safe when a potentially hostile person is living there,” he told the Los Angeles Times, adding: “I’m thinking about it at all times.”

"I tried to be a kind host," said Mr Javanovic of the beginning of the pair's relationship, adding: "I had no idea she would become what she has become.”

Mr Javanovic first purchased the property back in 2009 and later demolished and rebuilt the house - adding the guesthouse which was used by his children as a playhouse for many years.

It was only in 2019 that the dentist chose to list the house for short-term rentals.

Continuing to live mere feet from each other, the tension is believed to have begun five months into the rental, after Ms Jovanovic lodged an issue concerning her electric blinds.

Noticing mould and water damage near the sink when he entered the property to attempt a repair, he offered to put Ms Hirschhorn up in a local hotel.

Things turned sour quickly, however, when she refused the offer during the pandemic, citing a "housing disability and the high risks of Covid-19 complications" as well as citing LA County's Covid regulations.

Mr Javanovic then suggested she move into his own home, an offer she also declined, citing an allergy to cats.

Now, the tenant is counter-suing Mr Javanovic after he "inappropriately invited" her to move into his house with him, the LA times reports.

It has since been discovered that at the time the LA dentist listed the property, he had not registered it as a rental, nor acquired a certificate of occupancy. It also had a shower built without a permit.

Things are made more complicated by a newly introduced California law, which prevents landlords from evicting tenants without a thorough legal reason.

Given the guesthouse was being rented as an unregistered rental with an illegal shower, according to law, Mr Javanovic remains in something of a grey area legally.

However, the tenant's legal counsel insists the dentist's version of events are far from accurate.

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

“After he was caught, instead of doing the right thing, he has resorted to bullying, harassment and the filing of frivolous lawsuits containing elaborate false stories, all in attempt to cover his tracks.”

Having stayed in the unit for over six-months, the tenant now qualifies for the newly introduced LA law, known as Just Cause Ordinance.

The judge has subsequently granted a request from Hirschhorn's legal team to dismiss the complaints put forward by Mr Javanovic on the grounds that there's no legal basis for the lawsuit.

Now, the pair continue to live mere metres from each other, with the dentist simply "living with" the troublesome tenant.