Airbnb 'squatter' checks out of Palm Springs condo

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — After an arduous two months, Cory Tschogl finally has her condo back.

Maksym Pashanin, who attracted nation media attention about a month ago when he quite publicly refused to leave Tschogl's apartment in north Palm Springs that he rented via the Airbnb vacation rental listing site, has left the apartment in the Palm Springs Villas gated community.

Tschogl confirmed Wednesday afternoon, that Pashanin has left her condo, without incident. The apartment has no apparent damages, she said after a walk-through.

"There was nothing really dramatic inside the condo," Tschogl said. "There was no crazy damages. Everything was actually kind of in order. So it was like, anti-climatic, but in a positive way."

Tschogl, a Bay Area vision therapist, has the condo as a second home and listed it on Airbnb as a way to generate a small amount of income.

Tschogl told the Business Insider that Pashanin and his brother reserved the one-bedroom apartment from May 25 to July 8, and paid for the first 30 days in advance through Airbnb. After staying in the home for a month, he stopped paying, Tschogl said.

She then began the process to evict Pashanin, a video game developer who brazenly posted on the website KickStarter — where he was raising money to fund a video gaming project — that he had no regrets about his squatting behavior, and would do it again.

The case called attention to California's generous renter protections, which can be abused.

Because Pashanin had been in the home for 30 days, the "squatter" — as he was referred to in numerous media reports and online chatter — was protected under California tenant law, which requires a landlord to pay a relocation fee to tenants they wish to evict.

"I think he knew how the laws worked and I think he was prepared to ride it out for the full three to six months," Tschogl said.

It seems Pashanin left in the dark of night, Tschogl said, who learned of the departure from a combination of sources: neighbor accounts, family members checking on the apartment, and even a private service hired by Airbnb, charged with gathering information on the situation.

"So it was kind of a combination of my dad, the neighbors and then this professional service," she explained.

"And I think that's what ultimately 'smoked the rats out of the hole,' was you guys, like the attention," Tschogl said, calling attention to the media coverage. "So he just kind of like left in the middle of the night."

Tschogl retained two attorneys to both aid in getting the apartment back, and also to ensure protection from organizations like Airbnb, neighbors or the HOA for speaking so publicly about the situation.

"One thing I will say, while Airbnb was slow to support me in the beginning, they really kind of came through in the end. They've offered to cover all of these different costs," she said.

What now? Will the condo return to Airbnb's listing?

"I will definitely continue to use Airbnb as a guest," said Tschogl.

"In terms of will I keep using them as a host, like will I keep renting my property? What I've decided is that now that I've got it back, is take a month and decompress, and just think about it," she reflected. "Because right now, I still feel a little bit, like, violated and emotional about the whole situation.

"So, I think I'll come back to it in about a month and see what the next step is," Tschogl continued. "Because being inside that condo was emotionally and mentally draining, even though, like I said there were no damages that happened."