Aristocrats sue their Airbnb landlord for £25k after he cut off power at their deluxe London pad

An irate aristocrat is bringing a £135,000 court case against a landlord over claims he cut the power to his Airbnb after a dispute over money.

Countess Christine Bolza, 48, says she and her Austrian husband, Count Niki Bolza, were left “living in total darkness” without “lights, heating or a fridge” after falling out with the owner of a London Airbnb which the couple rented last year. .

Count Niki Bolza, 51, is the son of editor-in-chief and architect Count Antonio Bolza, an aristocrat of Austro-Hungarian and Italian descent who carved out a 2,000-acre estate around the historic castle of Castello di Reschio in Umbria, Italy, where his family lives today.

The elegant couple needed a home on short notice after being uprooted from their Mayfair flat after the Countess complained there were too many flights of stairs, and they moved into a luxury flat off Portobello Road in November of the year. last.

But the couple clashed with landlord Talha Abbasi when they developed cash flow problems in the run-up to the collapse of their property development company Niboco Ltd, which was wound up in July this year.

Countess Christine Bolza (pictured) says she and her husband, Count Niki Bolza, were left ‘living in total darkness’ with no ‘lights, heating or fridge’ after falling out with a London Airbnb owner who the couple rented last year.

Count Niki Bolza is the son of editor-in-chief and architect Count Antonio Bolza, an Austro-Hungarian and Italian aristocrat. He is pictured outside the City Mayor and County Court in London.

They claim that when they began to fall behind on rent in March, Mr Abbasi responded by cutting power for 20 days, leaving the aristocratic couple “homeless at home”, deprived of light, heating and cooking facilities, and unable to use phones. , TV or computers.

When the couple told the owner they were fighting, he was unfazed and was “repeatedly hounded for payment of outstanding sums,” Countess Christine told the City of London Mayor and County Court.

She is now suing Mr Abbasi for £25,000 to compensate her for “anxiety, inconvenience and mental stress” caused by the alleged attempts to force her family out of their temporary home by cutting off the electricity supply.

She and her family were further upset by the loss of internet access, the court heard, and Countess Christine says she was also harassed by Mr Abbasi “attempting to gain access to the apartment in an intimidating and aggressive manner”.

Defending the case, which has already raised around £110,000 in legal fees, Abbasi accepts that the couple’s power was cut off after he stopped recharging his meter, but says he did so only after his electrician he refused to sign it as insurance.

He also denies any suggestion of harassment, insisting that he tried to get an electrician into his apartment for health and safety reasons only. He also claims that he is owed £40,000 in back rent.

The couple clashed with owner Talha Abbasi (pictured) when they developed cash flow problems in the run-up to the collapse of their property development company Niboco Ltd.

Count Niki, a high-end real estate developer as well as a designer, played a key role in renovating his family’s Italian estate along with his architect brother, Benedikt, and Castello di Reschio is now a world-renowned haven for the wealthy. , which has seven luxurious rooms in country houses.

In 2019, Countess Christine and Count Niki’s company planned to redevelop a huge department store in Liverpool into a 157-room hotel, but in March 2022, as the company neared collapse, the couple suffered from Cash Flow.

Explaining the Countess’s case, her lawyer Michael Marsh-Hyde told the court: “In early March 2022, she and her husband ran into financial difficulties and were unable to pay the full rent for the premises.”

‘(Mr Abbasi) was notified and repeatedly pursued for payment of the outstanding sums.

“It is our case that Mr. Abbasi threatened to cut off the electricity unless she vacates the premises the next day. On March 16, 2022 the power went out.

“She contacted Mr. Abbasi via WhatsApp and email and he repeatedly emailed the claimant, informing her that she had to vacate the premises on March 17, 2022 and that the electricity would only be recharged once she had agreed. to vacate the premises.

“Electricity remained disconnected at the facility from March 16, 2022 to April 4, 2022. There was also no Internet provision during this period.”

The Earl and Countess had paid £3,435 a month for their rent in the fashionable London suburb of Maida Vale before they ran into money problems.

Woodfield Place, in Maida Vale, where the aristocratic couple rented out their Airbnb apartment

Countess Christine told the court that she and her husband left their previous rental “because there were five flights of stairs and she couldn’t go up and down things anymore.”

Once the power went out at Harland House, the block where the apartment is located, she and her family were “struggling daily trying to get by,” she told the court.

“We lived in an apartment without electricity or hot water, without services of any kind,” he said.

“There was no lighting, heating or fridge, we lived in total darkness.”

Countess Christine said she had reached a point where she could not trust anything Mr Abbasi told her and claimed that turning the power off and on was simply a “bargaining coin” for the owner.

She and her husband had paid £3,435 a month for their rent in the fashionable London suburb of Maida Vale.

She told the judge that because they had stayed for an extended period in the apartment, they actually had a ‘secured short-term lease’, giving her strong legal rights.

And he told the court: ‘We had a verbal agreement that we could stay on the property for as long as we needed.’

His lawyer added: “The parties expressly agreed that they would reach an agreement separate from the vacation rental system envisioned by Airbnb.”

But Abbasi says the flat was only rented to the couple as an Airbnb “vacation” rental, conferring limited rights as a tenant.

Mr. Abbasi is defending the claim, vigorously contesting the allegations of breach of covenant, attempted illegal eviction, interference and harassment.

He insists that the Countess and Count, who are still on the premises, are now squatters who have not paid their rent in full since February of this year.

In court, Abbasi’s lawyer, Tom Carter, said Abbasi also repeatedly offered to find alternative accommodation for the Bolza family, but was turned down.

Judge Stephen Hellman has reserved his ruling in the case until a later date.