Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #569

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Philly Man Sues Airbnb After Squatter Changes Locks, Rents Out Property And Causes ‘Extensive' Damage
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GFrJhwl4rO4
By Andrew Mark Miller | Fox News
A Pennsylvania man is taking legal action against Airbnb who he says is responsible for over $100,000 of damages and lost income caused by a squatter on his property.
Joseph Foresta, a landlord in South Philadelphia, alleges in a law- suit filed in late March that he rented out his residence through Airbnb to an indi- vidual who squat- ted for three months and did significant dam-
age to the proper- ty, the Pennsylvania Record reported.
Foresta claims that he listed his property, located at 1514 Christian Street, and believed that Airbnb "thorough- ly vetted" prospective guests and "led plaintiff to believe it was responsible for the safety of the host’s proper- ty from any dam- age caused by the guest to the host’s property, and it would be responsible for any over stay of the guests beyond the time
reserved and paid for by the guest."
According to the lawsuit, an indi- vidual named Lawrence H. Jackson made a reservation for a one night stay on June 13, 2020, and Airbnb col- lected the rent for the one night stay.
On June 14, the suit claims that Jackson refused to leave the prop- erty and stayed there until Foresta was able to obtain a court order for police to remove him on September 9, 2020.
Jackson is alleged to have changed the locks, rented out the other two apartments to "four to six people per apartment" and collected rent from those indi- viduals.
"Jackson and the occupants that Jackson allowed to live in the prop- erty did extensive damage to the interior and exteri- or of the property, including but not limited to, damag- ing the furniture and piling up to five feet of trash on the sidewalk outside the front and back of the property, defacing the exterior walls, breaking the doors and win- dows, breaking the water pipes, breaking the appliances, breaking the bath- room fixtures, breaking the ban- ister on the stairs, breaking the fire alarms, damaging the walls and floors and break-
ing the patio rail- ing." the suit alleges.
Additionally, Foresta says he was "physically attacked" when he tried to access the property, and one of the occu- pants struck him with a baseball bat in his head and stomach and "threatened to kill him" if he returned to
his South Philadelphia prop- erty.
Foresta claims his calls to Airbnb as the crisis was unfolding were not returned, and letters from his legal counsel were not answered.
"It was not until August 2020 that defendant Airbnb finally ‘acknowl- edged’ the com- munications, but did nothing to remove Jackson from the property or to address the damage done to the property," the lawsuit claims.
The suit claims the damage to the property was so extensive that it took Foresta until December 2021 to make the repairs needed to make it rentable again.
Foresta is seek- ing $170,000 in loss rental income and repair costs, plus interest, attorney’s fees and other costs incurred by the squatting, which has become an increasingly sig- nificant problem across the United States in recent years.
A spokesperson for Airbnb told Fox News Digital the company does not com- ment on pending litigation but said that Foresta has been banned from hosting on Airbnb since July 2020 "due to fre- quent violations of our community standards and policies."
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine