A lawyer filed a civil lawsuit against Airbnb and his host, a former Victoria’s Secret model, claiming he was misled by her New York City apartment listing on the website.
Christian Pugaczewski, 38, reserved a three-month stay in Lyndsey Scott’s Roosevelt Island apartment for more than $9,000.
The Airbnb listing, which has a five star review on the site, advertises the space as a ‘home away from home’ with ‘fashionable decor for a comfy yet modern vibe’.
But Pugaczewski found a building with trash in the hallways, along with damaged floors, broken furniture, and cockroach traps in the kitchen.
Pugaczewski, an associate at the Manhattan-based law firm Shearman & Sterling, splits his time between New York and California.
Assuming the apartment would be located in a luxury building, the lawyer was ‘horrified’ when he arrived at 540 Main Street, a building that had been converted from federally-subsidized housing.
‘There was paint peeling, there was grime and dirt on the window sill and on the air conditioner, a hole in the floor was covered up by strategically-placed bar stools,’ Pugaczewski said, according to the NY Post.
He also complained there was the smell of drugs in the building, and the lawsuit stated the Airbnb listing with its verified photos and reviews led him to book ‘a property materially different from the property portrayed’.
He stayed at Scott’s apartment for just one night before he cancelled the reservation and crashed at a relative’s home outside the city.
But Airbnb didn’t refund him for the $3,000 deposit, and he paid $20,000 for a last minute rental, the Post reported.
Scott, who has walked the catwalk for Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton as well as Victoria’s Secret, has gone on to code iOS apps for a living.
She told W Magazine about her apartment on Roosevelt Island in 2009, saying: ‘Well, my apartment’s bigger for less money, and it’s a nice little community.
‘I do community service and teach theatre classes to local kids when I’m not traveling,’ she said.
