Landlords are being warned to watch out for a prolific rogue tenant who has been exposed for illegally sub-letting properties on Airbnb under an alias.
Donna McCafferty (pictured), who was tracked down in Spain following a Crimestoppers appeal which featured her on Britain’s ‘most wanted’ list, was given 250 hours community service in 2010 for benefit fraud.
But one of McCafferty’s aliases, Louise Hanscombe, has recently been used on documents supplied to letting agents to rent properties in the city.
Tribunal rulings reveal a tenant called Louise Hanscombe was evicted from two properties in Edinburgh for subletting through Airbnb, as well as one in Dunbar, in 2019.
An eviction order has also been made for another property in Edinburgh, although Airbnb sub-letting is not the cause of the eviction.
A woman called Elizabeth McAndrew, another suspected alias for McCafferty, is listed in the forthcoming tribunals section as facing eviction from another property.
Conversion to Airbnb
One affected landlord couple told the The Edinburgh Evening News they discovered Louise Hanscombe had converted a lounge and study in their two-bedroom flat in Roseburn to advertise four rooms on Airbnb, about a month after she signed the lease in April 2019.
She was evicted later that year after leaving extensive damage and owing the couple more than £5,600 in rent arrears.
The landlord said: “The moment she moved into our flat she put locks on all of the rooms to let it out as four individual bedrooms. This person is a criminal and other people should be aware.”
Another eviction order published for Hanscombe concerns a flat in the Roseburn area which was being sublet through Airbnb. It says she had even applied to Edinburgh City Council to become a landlord.
Airbnb has now removed her from the platform. The newspaper has not managed to contact her for a response.
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