Two alleged squatters who illegally moved into a Queens duplex are suing the rightful owner for refusing to let them vacate the $930,000 home.
It’s the latest logic-defying chapter in the borough’s ongoing squatter saga, in which multiple homes have been destroyed in recent weeks by unwelcome trespassers claiming rights to properties under New York City’s permissive laws. occupied.
“It’s completely unreasonable,” Julia Fruman, the owner of the targeted home who has so far collected more than $4,000 fighting the lawsuit, told the Post on Sunday.
“They literally broke into my house. It’s unfair that we homeowners have no protection from the city,” said a Jamaican property owner.
Within the five boroughs, squatters only need to occupy a property for 30 days to trigger broad legal protections that make it difficult for owners to evict them.
“I can’t even blame them because it was handed to me on a silver platter,” Giuliya’s husband Dennis Kurlyand said in a phone call with The Post, calling the squatters “opportunists.” called.
“We need to do something because the problem is getting worse. People are taking advantage of these laws, manipulating the laws, and our hands are tied,” he said.
“What did we do? Nothing. We put up a rental property and that’s it. Now we’re facing a nightmare.”
The couple spent $530,000 renovating their investment property on Lakeside Avenue, and real estate broker Ejonah Baldi noticed the property’s locks had been changed on March 5, and tenants in both rental units. was secured.
After determining he was not authorized to change the locks, Baldi returned to his home and saw through the window the silhouette of a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and holding a drill, the broker said. daily mail.
As Baldi went to her car to call police, several men came out of the residence and surrounded her car, which was parked in front of the house, she said.
“They were trying to blackmail me,” she said.
When police arrived, the two alleged squatters, identified by the paper as Lance Hunt Sr. and Rondy L. Francis, claimed they had lived there since January but could not provide any evidence. Ta.
The men left the home without incident, and Baldi and the homeowner announced their intention to change the locks. But police told them they would be arrested if they did so.
It wasn’t an empty threat. Just two weeks later, another Queens homeowner, Adele Andalolo, 47, was arrested for changing the locks on her $1 million Flushing home to remove squatters.
Hunt Sr. and Francis returned to the property the next day brandishing what they claimed was a rental agreement signed by Baldi. But Juliya and Kurlyand were prepared and presented the officers with ownership documents and a time-stamped video showing the home was vacant, homeowners told the Post.
Police then escorted the men from the property and the owner replaced the locks. When the couple went inside, they found that their newly renovated house had been completely ignored by the trespassers, who had scuffed the wooden floors, scratched the walls, and smelled marijuana pervading the property. I found it damaged.
It was supposed to be the end of the ordeal, but it was only the beginning. Ten days later, Baldi was served with court documents informing her that the men were suing her, her couple, and Top Nest Properties, the real estate company that manages her property.
The squatters were granted an emergency lockout hearing in Queens Civil Court on March 22, during which the couple’s attorney Rizpa Moreau claimed the men had “committed fraud.” The case was asked to be tried by Judge Vijay Kitson.
Hunt Sr. and Francis appeared in court with “falsified documents” that had been hastily Photoshopped together from official documents, Kurlyand said.
“They found everything they could and put everything together. The contract they presented was ridiculous, signed on January 1st, starts on January 1st,” he said. .
Julia added: “I don’t know how they had the audacity to go to court.”
Dennis Harris, the squatter’s attorney, told the outlet that his clients showed him “any documentation that would lead us to believe they were living there,” including rental applications, lease agreements and text messages. He said he gave it to me.
The next scheduled court date is April 5th. When the couple asked Judge Kitson if they could move forward with the tenant’s move-in in the meantime, he said doing so before the court adjourned could further complicate matters.
“The court system is against landlords,” Kurlyand said. “It might take years to evict someone who trespassed into your home? Where’s the law in that? When you can break into other people’s homes every few years and live a life of luxury? Why do I have to work so hard to pay my rent or mortgage?”
Mr Kurlyand said that although some progress had been made towards resolving the issue, it was still “scary” to have the final decision in his hands.
“Like any courtroom, you never know what direction the trial will go. It’s scary — if the judge rules against us that day for whatever reason, even if the evidence is Even if there was, there’s nothing we can do at the end of the day — we still have to fight in court,” he said.
“Someone broke into my house and I am being sued by them. How can we be here? How is this possible? We need to take safety measures There is,” he said.
