Ur-ine trouble: Entrepreneur wrecked and wetted Highland rental, owner says

Whose blood once stained the walls, floors, sinks and showers of 3244 N. Federal Blvd.?

On Aug. 25, 2022, managers of that Airbnb rental property in Highland arrived there seeking payment from a renter. They instead found a townhome in a state of destruction.

“There was a significant amount of bodily fluids,” said Jerry McIntyre, the home’s owner.

A biohazard team had to be called in to remove the blood, urine and food waste that had been splattered every which way. Carpets were ruined, bathroom sinks smashed, hardwood floors gashed, floorboards flooded, appliances broken and drywall destroyed.

“Surprise and anger,” McIntyre said when asked what he felt upon being told of the wrecking by Effortless Stay, which manages it for him. “This was the home where my wife and I lived for years. Even though we had converted it … there was definitely a feeling of violation.”

“Most of our furniture and furnishings were misplaced or destroyed,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, suspicion turned to the renter. Mikael Hastrup is the co-founder and CEO of PropBidder, an online bidding marketplace for homes and condos. He is being sued by McIntyre, a lawyer, for $36,500 in repair costs and $53,466 in lost rental income.

But Hastrup has a story of his own — one that took McIntyre by surprise when he heard it.

Hastrup wasn’t at the townhouse when the damage was done, he said. He was in or was en route to California, having been arrested by bounty hunters for missing a court date.

“The Airbnb stay was over two years ago and no criminal case was ever created because the landlord created a false narrative,” Hastrup told BusinessDen by email. “We are now, however, still dealing with misinformation, financial extortion greater than $75,000 and reputation defamation. These are federal criminal offenses that can result in multiple felonies.”

Hastrup declined to say who he believes urinated and bled around 3244 N. Federal Blvd. — “Please do not contact me again,” he emailed when asked — but said it wasn’t him. As evidence, he points to a noise complaint that neighbors lodged on Aug. 20, 2022, two days after he said he was arrested. He suggested the noisemaker may have wrecked the place.

California court records do show that a warrant for his arrest was issued by a judge in Orange County in late June of 2022, as Hastrup said. The bond company he owed money to, Don’s Bail Bonds in Santa Ana, Calif., declined to tell BusinessDen when he was detained.

“He was the only guest on the reservation and the only one who had access to the property,” McIntyre said of Hastrup. “There was communication from him in the early parts of the stay with the management company, so he was clearly on the property for part of the duration of his stay, and there is no indication that anybody else had access to the property.”

Once he was back in Colorado that fall, Hastrup began demanding that McIntyre and Effortless Stay, a Denver company, return what he had left at the townhome. McIntyre wrote back that he was “livid” Hastrup would have “the hubris to demand the return of property that he abandoned without acknowledging the significant damage he caused,” according to both men.

So, on Oct. 3 of this year, Hastrup countersued McIntyre, his wife Sarah Hagerty, Effortless Stay and that company’s former chief strategy officer. Hastrup accuses them of theft of his computers worth $7,000, clothes worth $6,000, and a string bass instrument worth $7,500.