Locksmiths were spotted Thursday at the Los Angeles home where a “serial squatter” who first moved into the guesthouse in 2021 is camping and refusing to leave.
Elizabeth Hirschhorn, a 55-year-old screenwriter, moved into the guesthouse of Sascha Jovanovic’s home in Brentwood in September 2021.
She initially rented the property through Airbnb for six months, paying $20,793 for 187 nights.
Jovanovic agreed with Hirschhorn to extend her lease for another month, but Hirschhorn has since refused to move. They closed the deal directly, which Airbnb says means they are not legally responsible for the dispute.
The couple fought in court, with Hirschhorn insisting it was unsafe to move during the COVID-19 pandemic and saying the rental property did not meet L.A. city regulations.
Her latest salvo, through her lawyers, is to demand $100,000 from Jovanovic in exchange for her move.
Locksmiths were seen at the Brentwood property on Thursday, although it is unclear why they were called.
Locksmiths are seen Thursday at the Brentwood home where the ‘tenant from hell’, squatter Elizabeth Hirschhorn, refuses to leave
Hirschhorn (right) has now been dubbed ‘America’s worst Airbnb renter’ after it emerged she demanded $100,000 to vacate host Sascha Jovanovic’s home (left)
Airbnb host Sascha Jovanovic approved a six-month stay for Hirschhorn from September 13, 2021 to March 19, 2022 – a total of 187 nights, which she later extended to April 12, 2022. She has yet to move
Jovanovic said The Los Angeles Times last month that he was scared in his own home, with a “hostile” Hirschhorn living on the premises.
“I can never go into my house and know I’m safe if a potentially hostile person lives there,” he said.
“I think about it all the time.”
He added: “I tried to be a friendly host. I had no idea she would become what she has become.”
Hirschhorn called the police to complain about noise from Joavnovic’s teenage children, and accused him in her lawsuit of blocking access to her mail because he refused to share the mailbox.
‘It’s like a war where no bullets are flying. “Every time I open the door, I’m afraid she’s going to leave at the same time,” he said.
“Her door is a few feet from my daughter’s bedroom. We don’t sleep well anymore.
‘Psychologically it affects you. It never leaves my mind.’
A locksmith is seen at the Brentwood home on Thursday, although it is unclear why they were called
The homeowner has been trying to get his tenant out of his home since April 2022
Locksmiths are seen working outside the home in Brentwood on Thursday
Locksmiths are pictured at the Brentwood home where the woman dubbed ‘America’s worst Airbnb renter’ lives
An unidentified woman was spotted working with the locksmiths when they visited the California home
One of Hirschorn’s lawyers, Colin Walshok, told the newspaper: ‘The landlord broke the law and tried to make money by renting out an illegal illegal unit.
“After he was caught, instead of doing the right thing, he resorted to bullying, intimidation and filing frivolous lawsuits with elaborate false stories, all in an attempt to cover his tracks.”
Sebastian Rucci, a lawyer representing Jovanovic, called Hirschhorn “the tenant from hell.”
He added: ‘If she’s right, the theory is that if a landlord has something that’s not allowed, you can live in it rent-free forever.’
Two months before moving into the Brentwood property, Hirschhorn was evicted from a $2.6 million rental property in Oakland, California.
In that case too, she mentioned Covid-19, before finally settling in July 2021.
Hirschhorn previously lived with her elderly parents in Pasadena, California, and in Tucson, Arizona.
Court documents show that Brentwood’s current tenant-landlord dispute is strikingly similar to the Oakland case, in which Hirschhorn also became embroiled in a cleaning dispute, with the man from whom she initially sublet the property moving out due to her “hostile behaviour’. she was alone in the house where she continued to live despite the fact that she did not have a lease and did not pay rent.
Oakland property: Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show Hirschhorn was involved in a similar squatting dispute at this cottage she sublet in 2019. The case was settled just two months before she moved into her current rental home
Hirschhorn also recently settled another dispute – this time over an unpaid $19,000 American Express credit card bill.
As in the other cases, she filed a counterclaim claiming she was not liable for the full amount.
In April, she was ordered by a Los Angeles judge to pay both AMEX’s bill and legal fees.
Calls, texts and emails to Hirschhorn by DailyMail.com regarding both her current situation and her previous property dispute went unanswered.