Influencer ‘put flat on Airbnb while she flew off to the UAE’
A LANDLORD has accused a fitness influencer of secretly subletting her flat to tourists on Airbnb while jetting off on holidays to Dubai.
Leanne Newton claimed her tenant listed her one-bedroom London flat on short-term rental websites after altering the interior decor and furniture.
Ifende Uzoka, a bodybuilding champion and fitness influencer, was reportedly advertising the Stratford flat for as much as £190 per night on Airbnb and Booking.com.
“This is the first time in my whole term as a landlord that I’ve ever encountered something like this, it’s gobsmacking,” Ms Newton told Mailonline.
Ms Uzoka rented the one-bedroom Newham flat in October last year for £1,900 per month.
Yet her landlady complained that the 34-year-old tenant had apparently listed the property as a two-bed holiday home and put up large TVS on internal
walls that were not designed for them. Ms Newton, who revealed the dining room has been converted into a second bedroom, said Ms Uzoka was even allegedly trying to make a booking for eight guests. She explained her reaction as “absolute shock”, saying: “How could there be another house in London with similar architecture to mine and similar art to mine, but with different furniture? I had heard about these sorts of scams operating, but we thought we were careful about the screening and contracts process, and we have still been bitten.”
The landlady said she had alerted Newham Council, Airbnb, Booking.com and the Metropolitan Police to no avail, leaving her with no option but the normal civil eviction process.
A Newham Council spokesman said: “We have located two online reports made in relation to a property in Fairland Road, Stratford, which we only received last week.
“As this is a very recent report we are yet to review and respond to the landlord directly.”