Gina Mok, 46, moved to London in 2008 but found herself in court after taking a £32,000-a-year tenancy on a flat 200m from Buckingham Palace in 2022 then secretly subletting it as an Airbnb.
A businesswoman who secretly turned her landlord's pad near Buckingham Palace into an Airbnb is facing a legal bill of nearly £20,000 after losing a court appeal.
The businesswoman denied running the flat as an Airbnb, claiming she lived there herself and blamed a friend for on one occasion letting it when she was away. A judge found against her last year and now, after a failed bid to overturn the decision yesterday, she has been left facing an £18,721 bill. She paid the £32,000 rent up front, but lawyers for her landlord said had almost immediately begun letting it as an Airbnb, against rules in her lease.
'There is extensive evidence that the property was sublet on Airbnb by the defendant,' he told District Judge Worthington last year. Ms Mok denied being responsible for subletting, claiming that the listing resulting in the March booking had been done while she was in the US and wihtout her knowledge by a friend.
She said that, in finding specifically that it had been sublet in July 2022 and February and March 2023, the judge had referred to 13 reviews from people who said they had stayed there. 'The evidence can establish she did reside in the property and she had met contractors sent by the estate agent,' she told the judge.'Apart from reviews and listings, there is absolutely no evidence that the property was actually used by subletters.'
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