Unhinged French squatter takes over female poker champs $1.9M LA mansion as his cliched act of defiance is revealed
A poker player rented her home Los Angeles-area to an arrogant Airbnb tenant who didn’t know when to fold ’em.World Series of Poker player Wendy Weissman agreed to hand over her $1.9 million Hermosa Beach townhouse for a 30-day booking to a Frenchman named Evhan Lamarck a few months back.What she didn’t know then was that he wouldn’t leave for more than 48 days, ignoring her pleas to check out of the $12,500-a-month property just a few blocks from the beach.“He just refused to leave,” Weissman told ABC 7.“It’s squatting.
It’s definitely squatting.”Lamarck was taking advantage of California’s occupancy laws, which classify a short-term renter as a tenant after staying at a home for 30 days.Any attempt to evict would require a court order and a lengthy legal process.
Weissman claim the six-month process would have cost her $70,000 in lost rental income, as she was still on the hook for the home’s mortgage and property taxes.ABC 7 confronted the squatter and asked him if he believed it was fair for him to stay there without paying.“Yeah, it’s really fair,” he replied in a heavy French accent, before shutting the door in a reporter’s face.Weissman described the ordeal as a “nightmare.”“When you’re renting out a home there are two things which are your biggest fears and that’s squatting and bed bugs,” she told the Daily Mail.“This was a nightmare situation.”Lamarck claimed he had lost his credit card and had to remain in the home until he got a new one.
He paid for 48 days at the property.When Weissman pushed him to leave, the Frenchman began quoting parts of state law that he said entitled him to stay.She tried to contact Airbnb, but they provided little help, she said.“Airbnb did like the absolute minimum.I mean, they said: ‘Call your local law enforcement,'” she said. Police described it as a civil matter, before a huge water leak at the property gave her access to the property because it constituted an emerg...