Squatters have been invading people’s homes across the US and become so ballsy they’ll even rent out the properties using short-term rental services, according to Flash Shelton, known as the “Squatter Hunter.”
Shelton, who gets hired by desperate homeowners to try to route the illegal denizens, told The Post that some particularly crafty squatters use app-based short-term rental services to gain access to properties — then actually turn around and rent them out to rake in dough.
“I’m seeing squatters taking over [Airbnb properties] a lot,” he said in an exclusive interview.
“Matter of fact, I even see people get into the property and then try to make money by Airbnb-ing it out.”
According to Shelton, the squatters first rent out a home for a certain amount of time based on a daily fee by creating new accounts with services such as Airbnb. They then re-list the properties as if they were the owners.
“There was one [squatter] recently in Seattle that was doing that. And there’s one in Woodland Hills [California] … and I did a video about based on a Brentwood squatter who got in via Airbnb,” he said.
In reponse, Airbnb told The Post, “Issues like this are very rare on Airbnb.
“We strongly encourage our users to only book and pay on Airbnb where we have measures in place to support our community, including identity verification of booking guests and 24/7 customer support.”
Shelton said squatters make an end-run around the platform and similar ones by booking accommodations through the apps then later contacting the homeowners and providing an excuse as to why they need to stay an extra few days in the home and offering to pay directly.
According to him, if the homeowners agree to the off-the-books extension, they are automatically released from their contract with the rental platform because the extra nights are not secured through the apps directly.
Depending on which state this happens in and the corresponding laws, squatters’ rights soon take effect.
“So Airbnb walks away, wipes their hands clean [and decides it’s] no longer their problem,” Shelton explained.
“And now that homeowner has a squatter.”
Shelton said his strategy for helping homeowners who have lost possession of their property to an Airbnb squatter would be to try to book accommodation with them and give them a taste of their own medicine.
“I believe Airbnb should take more responsibility for a screening process,” Shelton told The Post.
“And I think that Airbnb should vet the [customers] more because homeowners are assuming these people are trusted because they’re getting them from Airbnb.”
Still, Shelton noted that the majority of the squatters plaguing America overstay leases without payment or move into unoccupied properties.
He tries to thwart such squatters by moving in with them and then installing cameras and telling them they’re on a reality show in the hopes it will freak them out and annoy them to the point of fleeing.
But Airbnb squatters have become a real problem, too, he said.
A Pennsylvania landlord, Joseph Foresta, sued the platform in March 2023 after an individual rented his residence for one night through the company’s website and then took over the apartment as a squatter, the Pennsylvania Record reported.
A year later, Foresta continues to battle Airbnb in court, according to Fox News.
In June 2020, the guest paid for his stay through the company, which collected fees, the court memorandum from Jan. 29, 2024, states.
The person, identified as Lawrence H. Jackson, made the reservation but then June 14, according to Foresta’s lawsuit, he refused to leave the property and stayed until a court order for police to remove him was executed Sept. 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 individuals, Fox News reported.
In another case, the owner of a Los Angeles mansion where an Airbnb guest had been squatting for more than a year claimed the alleged criminal was committing “extortion” — as it emerged the so-called “tenant from hell” had been accused only months earlier of refusing to leave another home.
“This is like a nightmare, to be honest,” Sascha Jovanovic told KTLA last year of the battle to get back his Brentwood estate from Elizabeth Hirschhorn, 55, who was at the time demanding a $100,000 relocation fee to leave.
“This is extortion. This is like manipulation. Nobody should go through this,” Jovanovic said of the Harvard-educated squatter.
“She is a smart person who knows how to manipulate the system, and it is dangerous that people like this are allowed to do this.”
Hirschhorn eventually left the guesthouse — after 570 days without paying rent — under a police escort, according to court documents filed Nov. 6, according to News Nation.
Trespassing is illegal in every state, but laws on how to handle squatters vary, with most relying on civil courts to resolve disputes.
As Shelton continues to fight on his own terms, he is also pushing for lawmakers to make changes.
“I want squatters to be treated as criminals [and have to] go through criminal court,” he told The Post.
