A World Series of Poker player says a short-term Airbnb stay at her Los Angeles-area home turned into a costly standoff with a guest who refused to leave.
Wendy Weissman had agreed to rent out her $1.9 million Hermosa Beach townhouse for 30 days to a French visitor identified as Evhan Lamarck several months ago.
But when the booking ended, Weissman said Lamarck stayed put for more than 48 days, brushing off her requests to vacate the $12,500-a-month property located just a few blocks from the beach.
“He just refused to leave,” Weissman told ABC 7. “It’s squatting. It’s definitely squatting.”
Lamarck was allegedly relying on California occupancy laws, which can give a short-term renter tenant status after 30 days in a home. Once that threshold is reached, removing the occupant typically requires a court order and can involve a drawn-out eviction process.
Weissman claimed that pursuing the case through the courts could take six months and cost her about $70,000 in lost rental income, while she remained responsible for the townhouse’s mortgage and property taxes.
When ABC 7 confronted Lamarck and asked whether he thought it was fair to remain in the home without paying, he did not back down.
“Yeah, it’s really fair,” he said in a thick French accent, before closing the door on the reporter.
Weissman described the ordeal as a “nightmare.”
“When you’re renting out a home there are two things which are your biggest fears and that’s squatting and bed bugs,” she told the Daily Mail. “This was a nightmare situation.”
Lamarck claimed he had lost his credit card and had to remain in the home until he got a new one. He paid for 48 days at the property.
When Weissman pushed him to leave, the Frenchman began quoting parts of state law that he said entitled him to stay.
She tried to contact Airbnb, but they provided little help, she said.
“Airbnb did like the absolute minimum. I mean, they said: ‘Call your local law enforcement,’” she said.
Police described it as a civil matter, before a huge water leak at the property gave her access to the property because it constituted an emergency.
“I sent him the video of the leak and he didn’t so I called the police. He tried to claim there was no leak and he didn’t know what I was talking about, another lie,” Weissman explained.
“I eventually told him that I was declaring an emergency and would have a plumber come over.”
The water issue prompted Lamarck and several other people apparently present on the property to load up a U-Haul and leave the premises.
But the nightmare wasn’t quite over for Weissman, the poker savant.
The tenant left a huge mess in the home, including cups full of cigarette butts, a filthy toilet and sand throughout the shower.
Weissman said the squatter caused a good amount of damage, and she’s likely out “a couple of thousand” dollars after her insurance and damage coverage provided through Airbnb.
Lamarck added insult to injury by writing a negative review of his stay. But Weissman demanded the review be taken down, and the platform has since pulled it off the site and removed his profile from Airbnb.
“Issues like this on Airbnb are very rare. In this case, we are in contact with the host and have removed the guest from our platform,” the company told the Daily Mail.
Weissman told ABC 7 that she wished the platform also offered insurance for squatters.
“California has the most lax laws for this kind of thing in the US, and it’s taking advantage of law-abiding citizens like myself,” she said.
