Letters to the Editor: The Airbnb ‘tenant from hell’ will scare landlords away from L.A.

To the editor: I am appalled at the dispute between property owner Sascha Jovanovic and his nightmare Airbnb tenant, Elizabeth Hirschhorn.

I don’t know anything about real estate law or the pandemic-era rules regarding housing, but where is common sense in this dispute?

Hirschhorn reportedly has a documented history of disputes with her landlords, including not paying rent for a year at a two-bedroom cottage in Northern California in 2019, citing COVID-19 regulations and health concerns. Now, she is citing health concerns again.

If the health risk is real, why has she refused to move unless she is paid a $100,000 relocation fee? This is an obvious abuse of the rules. I hope the courts can find a way to do justice in this matter.

Frima Telerant, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The city of Los Angeles understands that without landlords, there are no tenants. Though tenants rightly need strong protections against abusive landlords, landlords need rental income to pay taxes, loans and maintenance.

And landlords are not protected by the city during a dispute due to tenant nonpayment.

The unintended and paradoxical consequence of overzealous tenant protections is landlords selling their properties, often to developers, and buying elsewhere. This decreases the amount of affordable housing in L.A., evidenced by the recent proliferation of luxury apartment units in formerly affordable neighborhoods.

Jonathan Kaunitz, Santa Monica