Squatters refuse to leave AirBNB rental in North Carolina: 'If you try to enter, we will press charges'



Renters of an AirBNB in North Carolina set up a sign saying they were going to stay without paying the host in the latest incident of squatting.

Farzana Rahman says she's losing income from her rental after her last renters became squatters and threatened to press charges against her if she tried to gain entry to her property in Durham. The squatters initially rented her unit from October to May, but when their checkout date arrived, they decided to stay.

'We are legal residents of this house ... If you try to enter we will press charges for violation of expectation of privacy.'

"Now, they're refusing to leave until there's an eviction order. I think they're just trying to gain time to stay there for free because they haven't paid," Rahman told WTVD-TV.

She said the squatters told her cleaning lady to leave.

"They answered the door and they said, 'No, we haven't moved out.' She said, 'Should I come tomorrow?' And they said, 'No, don't come back,'" Rahman added.

They put up a sign claiming they were legal residents and threatening to press charges against the owner of the property.

"NO Trespassing. We will vacate the property when you have filed the proper paperwork with the civil magistrate for an eviction, for we are legal residents of this house," read the sign.

The video report from WTVD showed the cardboard sign in handwriting.

"If you try to enter we will press charges for violation of expectation of privacy," the sign concluded.

'It is wasting my energy; it is stressing me out.'

Rahman says she's a single mom with a son in college, and she depends on the income from the rental to sustain her budget.

"This is my place, and I mean, I'm counting on this income," she said.

Rahman said she tried to contact AirBNB but that it was not very helpful despite her having another long-term renter booked after the previous term.

"They're sending me messages as please get help for your safety and get whatever legal help you have to get to get them out," she explained.

Rahman says she has filed for the eviction process to begin and has a court date on Thursday.

"It's wasted my time; it is wasting my energy; it is stressing me out," she concluded.

The average AirBNB rental costs about $184 per day, according to data aggregator AirDNA.

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Renter has stayed at luxury Airbnb in California for a year without paying and demands relocation fee of $100k



A renter at a luxury Airbnb in California has stayed there without paying for more than a year and is demanding $100k in relocation fees, according to the rental property's owner.

Sascha Jovanovic told KTLA-TV that the renter had initially paid for a 6-month stay at the luxury studio in Brentwood for about $105 per night. But after that period ended in April 2022, the renter simply refused to move.

“This is like a nightmare, to be honest,” Jovanovic said. “This is extortion. This is like manipulation. Nobody should go through this.”

The attorney for Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the renter, told the Los Angeles Times that “she was not required to pay rent because the city had never approved the unit for occupancy," and added that "its shower was constructed without a permit.”

Jovanovic is now asking for $60,000 for what she owes in rent. He says that he fears for his safety.

“She is a smart person who knows how to manipulate the system and it is dangerous that people like this are allowed to do this,” Jovanovic added. “She is obviously trying to extort a community member and she has done this before.”

He says that he refuses to settle with Hirschhorn because people like her "have to be stopped."

KTLA's legal analyst, Alison Triessl, said Jovanovic made a mistake by renting the unit without a certificate of occupancy.

“If the landlord does not have a certificate of occupancy, any contract they had is void, so legally, she actually owes nothing,” she said. “But that does not leave him without remedy.”

Airbnb has also washed its hands of the case because Jovanovich admits that he allowed Hirschhorn to stay after the period of time agreed upon on the platform.

Jovanovich's attorney, Sebastian Rucci, has called Hirschhorn the "tenant from hell" in an interview with 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," he explained.

The average single family home in Brentwood, California, currently sells for about $2.15 million according to Redfin.

Here's more about the rental nightmare:

Airbnb renter stays at Brentwood home for more than a year without paying www.youtube.com

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