A devastated woman who rented out her apartment on Airbnb says she returned home to find it completely trashed and stinking of urine.
The homeowner, identified as Laurie S, shared a series of shocking photos on social media that show her Paris apartment littered with alcohol bottles and damaged furniture.
She told how she occasionally rented out her 13 square metre studio went she went on work trips, only to find the floor boards warped and the front door jammed upon her return – among other damage.
Laurie explained that she had originally rented to the man for three weeks, but he stayed in the apartment for four.
She is now asking the home sharing site to pay €10,000 in estimated damages after she got the apartment assessed by a building firm.
She wrote on Facebook:
“The charming studio recently encountered a malicious person who polluted it without anyone knowing for a full month.
“He occupied [the apartment] for an extra week in an illegal way, and did not answer me.
“I was really shocked and devastated when I came back, [to find] my studio in that state.
“The charming new studio has literally transformed itself into a vulgar ‘squat’ filled with excrement, urine and an impressive quantity of alcohol bottles.
“The urine has taken possession of the charming studio from the floor to the ceiling; the [warped] floor, the entrance door which hardly closes, the bed which has served as a toilet…”
Laurie explained that the man’s profile did not seem suspicious – and had even gotten a positive host from a previous person he had rented from.
She added:
‘The costs [to clean it] are enormous.
“The cleaning of the apartment requires the intervention of professionals who necessarily charge disinfection and excreta removal.”
A spokesperson for Airbnb told France 3 that the type of bad experience Laurie had is “extremely rare”.
They noted that 30 million flats had been rented on the sharing site last year, but serious damage had only been done to 0.009 percent of them.
The spokesperson also told the publication that the renter who allegedly caused the damage has been banned from using the app, adding that they have a “zero tolerance” for that kind of behaviour.
Airbnb offers a “Host Guarantee” which provides homeowners with protection for up to €800,000 in damages.
