Posted on 12/05/2025 11:31:17 AM PST by algore
An Airbnb customer overstayed her reservation and is now refusing to leave the rented property by claiming she has tenant's rights.
Alleged squatter Shadija Romero reserved Rochanne Douglas's short-term rental in Washington DC for 32 days, ending on March 29 this year.
Romero failed to leave the home and began claiming residency after just 30 days, according to court filings obtained by the Daily Mail. She is still residing at the property more than 10 months later.
The accused squatter allegedly tried to place utilities in her name and has tampered with security cameras.
She removed Douglas's personal property from the fully-furnished unit and has blocked the owner from entering to conduct maintenance, repairs, inspections and preparations needed to sell the home, the filings stated.
Douglas also alleged Romero has verbally threatened her, engaged in repeated abuse of police and judicial processes, and attempted to have her work vehicle towed by falsely claiming ownership of the home.
Douglas served Romero with a 30-day notice to vacate, has called the police, taken the alleged squatter, and in October even offered her $2,500 to sign a document admitting she is not a legal tenant, WJLA reported.
Romero signed the document, but when her eviction date arrived on November 15, she declined to leave the property and claimed the arrangement 'no longer works for me,' the owner told the news outlet.
Child Services were called to the property on Thursday because Romero, who brought her daughter into the home, complained there was no power or electricity.
A judge on Thursday told Douglas to turn the electricity back on and is expected to rule on housing arrangements next week, according to the newspaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I am shocked
I really can’t understand how this is even possible!
7 burly men.
Middle of the night.
Guns.
Problem solved!
“A judge on Thursday told Douglas to turn the electricity back on,,,”
By what legal reasoning or authority can the judge tell Douglas to do this, and presumably, to pay for it?
I was thinking Doberman Pincers.
But whatever it takes.
“7 burly men. Middle of the night. Guns. Problem solved!”
It’s sad but it’s really getting to this point.
So this Shadija person is STEALING a HOUSE.
At this one point awhile back, we were actually planning on renting for awhile until horror stories like this one started cropping up. There’s no way we’re gonna rent anything to anyone these days.
“I really can’t understand how this is even possible!”
When I stayed at a Motel 6 in El Monte, CA, there was a notice posted that stays were limited to a maximum of 28 days.
Stays of 30 days or more probably come under tenant protection laws.
All I can say after reading this is as I am getting older now life in prison just isn’t the deterrent that it use to be.
Examples have to be made sometimes for the good of others, and man I tell you what - This would be my hill right here.
Here in Texas and I think Florida, we now have laws against short-term (or even long-term) renters trying to get ‘cute’.
In a Blue territory, you have to be an idiot to be landlord.
Here to tell ya - if that was my property, me and a bunch of good old boys would show up at 3 AM.
Ol’ Shadija would leave very quickly. The Hard Way.
They do that in the case of a minor at the property.
If it were just adults, they would still be in the dark.
(Not defending it, but that has been a “thing” for decades.)
SURPRISE!! It’s “Them”, Boo Boo!
Take in a boarder, a tenant, or an airbnb criminal, and you deserve what you get.
Sorry to be so stern but you’re just asking for agony.
I buy residential properties, and after a bit of cosmetics (or more if it’s deserving and historic), I fsbo them. Screen the buyer (legal history — it’s only a few clicks away!) Get a deposit they don’t want to forfeit, and make sure the contract stipulates they are not renting, it’s not a lease, and they are not tenants.
Otherwise, no matter who or where or what, you are playing Russian Roulette and you will get unlucky. There’s a whole professional class of evil tenants and outright squatters in the world. Honorable tenants are a dying breed and the odds are not in your favor.
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