Party girl who told MoS: Yes I own this flat( which is news to its real owner in Argentina)
A GLAMOROUS Italian party girl caught unlawfully sub-letting on Airbnb was allowed to continue advertising properties on the site. Natali Rossi, 37, was arrested and cautioned for fraud after she failed to tell the owner of a £1.5 million Soho flat that she was earning thousands of pounds a month by letting it out to guests through Airbnb – some of whom are alleged to have held drug-fuelled parties. The owner informed the website but Rossi was allowed to continue letting out 12 properties through the site. An undercover Mail on Sunday reporter was able to rent a room in a three-bedroom apartment she advertised in Maida Vale, London. It later transpired she was not the owner. During a meeting to hand over keys, Rossi bragged she was earning three times as much money from wealthy Saudi guests at her properties in Knightsbridge. She said: ‘I get very good deals. The flats are super expensive – you ask triple the price. It’s a very, very high demand. ‘ Clients are Arabs. They are the richest, they pay as much as they can. They all use Airbnb. It’s a good platform for sure. It’s the only one – they [Airbnb] killed all the others.’ Rossi, from Sassuolo in Modena, went on to make racist comments, claiming she would refuse bookings from black and Asian people. She said: ‘I decline. You don’t have to provide reasons. Decline. Finished. Of course you can’t tell Airbnb you declined because of blacks, they will ban me for life. I just say the flat is busy or anything.’
Ms Rossi, who had 142 reviews on the site, said she had owned the £625,000 Maida Vale flat for five years but we tracked down the real owner, branding expert Marcel Knobil. He had been on holiday in Argentina and, through a property management company, said: ‘I thought the property was being rented by an Italian doctor called Natali Rossi. I’m obviously concerned about this and have asked the letting agent to deal with it.’
The flat Rossi had previously rented in Soho in May had been obtained through a letting agency. She falsified her references, claiming she was an NHS doctor earning £120,000 a year working at the Cancer Institute at University College London Hospitals.
The owner began to receive complaints from neighbours about three-day parties and drug taking. He discovered his £ 800- a- week home was being advertised on Airbnb by Rossi for up to £600 a night.
In October, Rossi was arrested at the flat and cautioned after admitting fraud by false representation – falsifying documents to obtain the property.
The owner said that there was around £15,000 worth of damage and that he had written more than 30 emails to Airbnb but they had refused to help.
Since being questioned by The Mail on Sunday, Rossi has removed all of her Airbnb listings.