This is possibly the weirdest Airbnb horror story ever

A pair of Airbnb hosts are currently trying to kick out a nightmare guest who not only rented their San Francisco apartment by using a false name, but is also refusing to leave by claiming that he now has the right to stay indefinitely. Oh, and he's also a neighbor and a co-owner in the very building in which the apartment resides — and he's a man with whom the couple has several still-ongoing arguments.

Michelle Huang and her boyfriend Thomas Payne own three units in a six-unit building near their permanent residence. During the past couple of years, they have rented two of those units through Airbnb and FlipKey, despite constant griping from their neighbor Sandeep Andre Hingorani, who filed an official complaint with the city and has argued that the rentals created noise and parking issues. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, that was only one of many, many, many issues that Huang and Payne have had with Hingorani — and vice versa.

Last April, Huang and Payne rented one of their units to a man named Jim Tako, who said he was a Pittsburgh-based television correspondent who would be in the city for at least two months. Tako's Airbnb profile picture was of Don Johnson, circa-Miami Vice and did not have any reviews from other hosts or guests, but the couple approved his request to stay at their property. Just before the end of his rental, Huang and Payne received a letter from an attorney, revealing that "Jim Tako" was actually Hingorani and that, as he had stayed at the property for more than 32 consecutive days, he was eligible for tenant's rights — and no, he wasn't leaving anytime soon.

A court case is pending as both sides await the ruling of the city's Rent Board. Huang and Payne allege that Hingorani is trying to "drive [them] from their property" and to "inflict maximum pain" on them. Hingorani says that isn't the case, that he just needed a place to stay while his own unit in the building was being renovated. But he's still not moving out, and he would not answer the Chronicle's questions about Jim Tako or explain why he used Airbnb to rent the unit instead of contacting his neighbors directly.

Payne said that Airbnb should've flagged the Jim Tako account because Hingorani paid for the rental with his own credit card. "We put a lot of trust in Airbnb," he said. An Airbnb spokesperson told the Chronicle:

"Unfortunate situations like this are rare and we are always working to improve. We provide tools so that our hosts can review and research their guests before they accept a reservation. You can read a person’s profile, look for their reviews."

This isn't the first case of squatting that has been facilitated through Airbnb, and probably won't be the last — especially in California, where after a guest rents your property for 30 days, they are considered to be your tenant. After that 30 day period, they are legally entitled to another 30 days before you can file a lawsuit against them. California-based hosts might want to keep that in mind, and they might want to think twice about renting their homes to Don Johnson.