L.A.’s “Tenant From Hell” Squatted for a Year in Oakland

Before she became the “tenant from hell” for overstaying her Airbnb residency more than 540 days in Los Angeles, she was squatter-in-residence for a year in Oakland.

Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the Harvard graduate behind global headlines for her refusal to pay rent for a year and a half after her Airbnb stay ended at a guesthouse in L.A.’s Brentwood, previously pulled a similar stunt at 377 63rd Street, the Daily Mail reported.

Two months before she rented the Brentwood digs from Dr. Sascha Jovanovic, then overstayed her welcome, the 50-plus Hirschhorn was booted for not paying rent to a landlord in Oakland, according to court documents.

In September 2019, she had sublet a room at a $2.6 million bungalow in the city’s Rockridge neighborhood — then allegedly refused to move out, despite the original tenant leaving due to a “hostile environment” and Hirschhorn’s “excessive demands.” 

As in the Jovanovic case, she squatted in the home rent-free for more than a year and gave Covid regulations and health concerns as reasons for her refusal to budge.

She then countersued landlords Brian and Gordon Bishop, claiming their actions had been harmful to her health and accusing them of “negligence.”

Hirschhorn, who previously lived in Pasadena, California, and in Tucson, Arizona, with her elderly parents, had sublet a room from tenant Alex Lewin.

But she became embroiled in a dispute with him over cleaning, according to a lawsuit. When the Bishops tried to evict her, she filed a countersuit, claiming their actions had caused her to suffer.

Lewin moved out of the home in March 2020 because of Hirschhorn’s “hostile behavior,” according to court papers. She continued to live there after he left despite having no tenancy agreement with the Bishop brothers and not paying any rent.

In her cross-complaint, Hirschhorn claimed that Gordon Bishop had released “a harmful substance” into the home.

The case was eventually settled in July 2021, just over a month before Hirschhorn moved into the guesthouse Airbnb in Brentwood, where she has lived rent-free for more than 540 days.

Hirschhorn, a Harvard graduate, has been mired in numerous lawsuits. The Daily Mail found  the Massachusetts native was sued by American Express in February 2021 over an unpaid credit card debt of $19,618, which she was ultimately forced to repay.

The Daily Mail also reported that in June 2019, Hirschhorn filed a lawsuit against married couple Jacqueline McMahon and Timothy Hayes over a car accident that had occurred two years earlier, seeking damages of more than $25,000.

— Dana Bartholomew

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