A California dentist put his multi-million dollar home’s ‘in-law suite’ on Airbnb and lived to regret it.
- Their guest booked a six month stay at $105 per night for $20,793.
- They’ve been there for about two years, rent free for 18 months
- And they’re demanding $100,000 to leave – with California law on their side.
- She even wants a refund of her twenty grand for the first six months of her stay, too!
Five months into the stay, the guest complained about the electronic blinds in the standalone unit not working. The owner found water damage inside and mold around the sink when he inspected, which he says weren’t there prior to the stay and that had gone unreported. So he asked to book a Hilton hotel stay for the guest while he had repairs made, or give her $1,500 to find her own lodging. She refused citing fear of Covid-19 and ‘chemical sensitivities.’
- She wouldn’t leave at the end of her stay. He had other Airbnb reservations, which he had to move. Finally he sought to have her evicted.
- She researched permit history on the detached dwelling and found that there was a shower that hadn’t been permitted, and that there was no separate occupancy permit. So she complained to a housing investigator. He was fined $660.
- The city determined he had to bring the unit up to code before he could evict his tenant. She wouldn’t let him in to make address the deficiency. Ergo, the unit couldn’t be brought to code and she couldn’t be evicted.
The woman is still living there, and under the city’s rent control laws the dentist can’t simply evict her. Los Angeles statute requires him to pay her a relocation fee. Her lawyer says “$100,000 is [the] cheapest way of getting of the whole ordeal… It is the home of the tenant until the landlord gets a judgment.”
Don’t put property on Airbnb that hasn’t been fully permitted in California, because the penalty isn’t just the fines it’s that the customer can continue to live there forever without paying rent.
Now, I lived in California as a teenager and my family was in the car business there. A mechanic in their repair shop cheated on his wife, and contracted an STD. He denied the affair and concocted the story that he’d gotten the clap from a spider bite while working on a car.
Since he was all in for the story, he needed to claim workers comp for the injury. It didn’t matter that’s not how STDs work. Since this was California, his claim was approved. The state government helped keep his marriage together, and my family’s workers comp coverage got dinged with a claim it shouldn’t have.
Another frequent issue there was hiring workers who would get injured on the job as soon as they could. Our record was an employee who cut his finger on an oil filter in his first 10 minutes on the job. Usually it took at least a few hours for an intentional workplace injury that qualified for a claim!
I recently wrote about New York City’s rent control laws allowing a hotel guest to claim ownership of the entire hotel after staying just one night and requesting a six month lease.
A housing court judge sided with him, allowing a deed for the property to be listed in his own name. When the legitimate owner fought it in court, the guest actually won the right to move back into just their own room as a rent-subsidized tenant. It’s not just California that’s gone insane.
(HT: Running With Miles)
Gary, good job lately with stories of lunatic women. Maybe this chick is the sister of the brat who got stuck in the bathroom in BOS.
We live in a twisted society that values the rights of the one over the rights of the many
Only in america
It’s hard to disagree with David’s comment about “lunatic women”, although to that I would add that the bigger issue is lunatic Left Wing Cities and States. Moral of the story: If you want to rent out property, do it in a Red State, which honors the Rule of Law.
@ Gary — Moral of the Story: Don’t be a landlord.
Laws have unintended consequences ;D
Yet another garbage human the world would be better off without. Let’s hope she slips and falls down the stairs.
He would have two options of vacating the premises, feet first or head first!
The real issue was the lack of a certificate of occupancy for his guest house. It was not a lawful dwelling, so it there could be no lawful rental agreeement. You need a lawful house or a dwelling to have a lease. This was neither since there was no certificate.
The landlord was asking a court of law to to use the law to uphold the lease, when evictions apply only to valid leases for lawful dwellings. The lease was invalid all along due to his negligence in securing the proper paperwork (which would have given him that protection he was seeking).
The courts never sided with the tenant, they simply refused to enforce something that was illegal all along. It’s no different than if someone stole the stolen car you were driving. The police are not exactly going to help you recover it. It has to be your lawfully owned vehicle or the law won’t help you.
This is literally Republican “rule of law” principles in action.
After reading this, all I can say after 29 years in Commiefornia is thank God for convincing me to leave with my huge state pension to a solid red state that wont be taxing it at all.
There is a lot of mis-reading going on by some commentators; the dentist rented out his place illegally – he does not have the same recourse to the relevant laws as a legally permitted landlord. His problem for trying to skirt permits etc. Zero sympathy.
I’m a lawyer in California that practices landlord/tenant law. The inability to evict does not ring true.
However – once someone has occupied a rental unit for 30 days, or signs an agreement to occupy for at least 30 days, that person becomes a tenant with all tenancy rights. In California, there is “just cause” eviction, meaning you need specific grounds to evict, and must go through court proceedings if the occupant does not want to leave. Airbnb should warn hosts about this, but I doubt that it does.
Would have been quicker and cheaper to just burn the place to the ground.
@Gary – Stupid law, stupid landlord. I’m sorely disappointed in the cheap shots here at California. Is Texas where you have to bear the child of your rapist father better?
@Uncle Jeff:
But if there’s no lease agreement, isn’t she just trespassing?
Really, the problem was he let her stay there free for a month. She knew what she was doing and he did not.
Idiotic (and affordable-housing-destroying) rent regulations —-> SCOTUS via several different cases. Sanity hopefully on the horizon
Unscheduled pest fumigation through the chimney should do the trick. Anyone that thinks it’s socially acceptable to squat in somebodies property like this should be chemically sterilized. It would save the next generation from your spawns stupidity.
These types of laws are one of the reasons that rental costs are high. There are a lot of people who would rent out a spare room but the laws governing the rental are very distinctly in the renter’s favor so smart people do not do that. This is just an example of how bad laws impact an owner.
Good…. the dentist got what he voted for.
Kind of like the movie Pacific Heights. I laughed at when it came out but a lawyer friend told me that this sort of thing is very real.
@Christian – All states have their downsides!
@Gene
Actually it’s that the left is evil and ruins everything. See California.
So apparently this woman did something similar in Oakland. She sublet a room in a $2.6 million house and then refused to leave, again claiming COVID and health concerns. The person whose house she was subletting the room said her hostile behavior was so bad they moved out and left her in there alone. Apparently they finally got her out somehow, and then two months later she moved into this property where she is squatting now. She countersued the Oakland owners for basically the same as she’s doing now.
Oh, and Amex went after her for $19k in unpaid balances. Courts a few months ago ruled against her and ordered her to pay her Amex balance plus all of Amex’s legal fees. Probably why she needs the $100k. Oh and guess what… she countersued Amex claiming she isn’t liable for any of the charges alleging they failed to remove a charge she contested.
And she went to Harvard.
This is why people don’t want to rent to others. And why my employer refuses to have any employees in the state of California.
I was a landlord in CA since 1997 in O.C without encountering a “tenant from hell”. When I moved to central CA, all tenants are deadbeats and destructive demons. They knew the laws to their advantages more than me mine. Now, I have two long-term occupants but they both waived their tenancy rights in the rental agreements. Equivalent to a “pre-nup” prior to a marriage. It helped minimize the costs and headache. A 30 consecutive day occupancy in any types of dwelling automatically becomes tenancy with or without rental agreements or lease. A court will not help a party that breaks the law. Tenancy laws must be flushed down the toilet but what can we expect from our elected lawmakers? The majority of law-makers have no background in laws: No education, no training and no experiences. In fact, there are no required qualifications to run for elected offices. Namely, Jerome Powel is Fed Chair who has no background in finances and economics. Just a well connected lawyer by trade.
However, this millionaire dentist deserved what he got. The wealthy are so much into tax-dodging and tax cuts that clouded their judgment in life. Remember Zoe Baird who Clinton nominated for AG but withdrew due to hiring an illegal nanny?. What possesses a person to run an AirBnB in LA without a permit? LA and NYC wanted to put severe restrictions on such platform. He should require her to move out for two days after every 4 weeks of occupancy.
@Rob: unequivocally agreed.
@ Matt: we do not live in a democratic society. We live in a society in which a vocal tyrannical minority over rules a silent majority. The red states have less population than those of blue/ purple states. Do we genuinely need two Dakotas or Carolinas? Why Vt, NH or ME have two senators like CA, NY or ILL? They contribute less money to the federal coffers than those of blue/ purple states. Yet, they have more representation in Washington, D.C. Many Republican presidents lost the electoral votes in general elections.
Leaving the politics out, she is just a nasty person…she will eventually “pay for it” somehow and in some way…how can life be enjoyable while stuck in that mind/head? Stupid way to waste your life…in stress.
The story on Daily Mail claims she did this before on a 2.6 million rental in Oakland. She is a scammer. Some of these AIR BNB people are pretty crafty. Renter beware. She is living in this guest house for 540 days. I know a lwyer posted in the comments here. 540 days. I cant understand why a guy would rent to her for 105 a night. But you never know.
California laws are crazy. They are very pro tenant and pro employee.
I sold my business as I had a couple (fortunately minor) cases where I had to buy a scoundrel off.
Along those same lines, I live in a duplex in California. When I move I will either sell or just keep my old place open. If I owner occupy I still have protections. If I rent both units I am subject to the wacky commie CA tenant laws. So, these unreasonably pro tenant laws are actually reducing availability and affordability for tenants.
Anyone arguing for the squatter POS tenant in this news article needs their head examined.
If she has done it before it is fraud and the cops can arrest her. My mom sold owner financing w 35 k in and they have NEVER made another PMT. Lender is foreclosing 4 yrs later Oct 13. This biatch tells everyone she bought the house for 35k. My mom is 82 and a gold star widow. ( just let her va loan go after 4 Mo’s of non PMT) Oh and she is a realtor.
The problem in Los Angeles is that you get a toxic brew of socialism and cronyism. I love it here but LA and California broadly are wildly dysfunctional. Actually it’s not that I love it here. I live here because most places seem way worse.
@rdinsf
From your experience, what steps do you think this guy can take to get her out of there and get his entire property back?
In other news, this may be the BEST marketing campaign for the building permits dept.
She is s guest with no lease. She had no rights to be in your home. She is a guest in your home call the local authorities and have her removed from your personal residence.
And this is the “rules based order” thecwestcwants to impose on everyone else? And dont give me bs about this is the best we have
The deteched dwelling is not up to code. Is the wiring safe? Has it been inspected recently by a licensed electrician? Better shut off the power; can’t be too careful. There’s mold growing in there. Some molds are toxic. Best shut off the water. Can’t be too careful. Be sure to leave a bucket outside her door so she can attend to her ablutions. Better bolt it down, though, since there’s been a history of theft in the neighborhood.
No sympathy for this landlord. He tried to illegally rent out a unit. He also seems to have not realized that a person gets tenancy status after 30 days. He was so greedy in his literal rent-seeking that he didn’t bother to learn the laws around his actions, but now he expects a court to jump him to bail him out.
I don’t think a court in Texas or Florida would be any more likely to enforce a contract related to illegal property. One can argue about whether tenancy and permitting laws are too onerous or not, but if you voluntarily open a business in a particular city/state you have a responsibility to ensure compliance with the relevant laws. Clearly this woman knew the law better than the guy who built a not-fully-permitted aux unit. A very expensive lesson as to why good lawyers are a necessity.
Premeditated, targeted. Lady searched these granny units on AirBnb, which have the highest odds of being un-permitted, cross-checked them against county records, made a list of the ones with the most irregularities, picked up the nicest, most pricey, and booked it. Probably consulted with a lawyer before hand for strategy too.
@Joseph – well said. I love living in LA, wouldn’t live anywhere else, but would *never* be a landlord here because of exactly these horror stories
@globetrotter: A tenant cannot waive tenant rights prospectively in a rental agreement. The provision is void as against public policy in California.
As for repairs, the landlord can give her 24-hours advance notice and then forcibly enter.
Yes, IAAL in CA.
This one made me step into the Time Tunnel…. about 48 years ago.
I was working on the insolvency of a large package holiday firm in London. We employed a fixer and his lads to do jobs and resource for us. One day he told me they had had to evict some tenants who weren’t paying rent and refused to leave. I asked how they did that. He told me:
“Well Guv, it’s quite easy. We just put an Alsation (German Shepherd) in the back door, and they all came running out the front.”
Seems this approach might have merit in this case 🙂
Good old liberal left-sided Calif regulations…
The most common reason people do not get proper permits and CO’S for additions/renovations is so that their home values don’t get reassessed and their property taxes don’t get increased.
So, he was asking the government to evict someone from a place he told the government didn’t even exist so he didn’t have to pay taxes on it.
The woman is clearly a snake, but the landlord set himself up for this nonsense.
Time for a visit from Joe Pesci!
The mafia could clean up the mess our country has become PDQ!
Illegal dwelling, illegal tenant. These two deserve each other.
@globetrotter
*The majority of law-makers have no background in laws: No education, no training and no experiences. In fact, there are no required qualifications to run for elected offices.*
See Gym Jordan, for example (allowed young men to be sexually assaulted plus 16 years in Congress and hasn’t produced 1 bill) or Lauren HandJob Boebert (no HS diploma) or… sure there are some Dems but the Rs have the most idiots
Not in California, hotels, motels, Airbnb, and single room rentals fall in the same category, they dont pau you can lock them out done over out
Where’s Joe Pesci when you need him?
@Duane Hawkins: Not after 30-days of tenancy.
@gleff
You blame California in the title, but some of this is LA specific. LA is its own special version of hell. Your dwelling has to be permitted in order to collect rent, and if you did something dumb like add an “in law suite” or something to a single family dwelling, your tennant probably has you over a barrel without paying rent.
I hesitate to call informed renters scammers, but one should not go into residential real estate in LA without having a *very* good lawyer on retainer.
Reading these replies it’s clear who are business and property owners and who are renters. Regardless of whatever commie laws the property owner breached, it is his property. The scammer grifter tenant (and I assure you this is not the first time she’s pulled this) should GTFO. End of story.
A “guest” is a tenant in a lot of places, like Chicago, and subject to Chicago’s crazy landlord/tenant law. Had a client who allowed a woman she knew who claimed to be battered into a vacant apartment, no charge, to recover. The “guest” then refused to leave.