The father, who is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, has been fighting for nearly a year to evict the squatters as he struggles to meet medical bills and mounting costs to maintain his home.
Thomas Wooding of Long Island; told News 12 A tenant at a 4th Avenue unit in Park Slope has not paid rent since June 2023.
“I made many passionate pleas for her to leave the unit, but she refused,” Wooding told the outlet.
Wooding’s wife, Madalena, who has not been named, said in a GoFundMe post that the woman apparently quit her job and stopped paying rent after receiving a 90-day notice to terminate her lease.
The Woodings told News 12 they took their tenant to court earlier this year, but the lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality.
“Because she wasn’t provided with certain orders that were put in place during the pandemic that we didn’t know about, and the court clerk didn’t give them to me,” Madalena fumed.
The couple is taking the case back to court, but they are struggling to come up with the mortgage, HOA fees and attorney fees, in addition to Wooding’s cancer treatment costs.
“She is entitled to free legal advice, and we are not,” Madalena said of the tenant.
Local laws appear to protect tenants while putting landlords in a difficult position, she added.
In addition to her squatting situation, Madalena is a full-time caregiver for her husband and two children.
“This incident has caused us a lot of stress and we have lost and will continue to lose a significant amount of rental income because of her.” [sic] As long as she is there,” she wrote in an online fundraiser.
Thomas Wooding did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
