An alleged squatter couple accused of illegally moving into a duplex in Queens, New York, is suing its rightful owners after refusing to vacate the home worth more than $1 million.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” building owner Juliya Fulman, who has so far racked up more than $5,500 in legal fees, told the New York Post on Sunday.
“These people literally broke into my house. It’s not fair for us, as owners, not to be protected by the City,” lamented the owner.
In the district where the duplex at the heart of the dispute is located, squatters only need to occupy a property for 30 days to benefit from a wide range of legal protections that make it difficult for the owner to evict them.
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“You can’t really blame them, in a way, because the situation is handed to them on a silver platter,” argued Denis Kurlyand, Juliya’s husband.
“Something needs to be done because the problem is only getting worse. People are taking advantage of these laws, manipulating them, and our hands are tied. What have we done? We didn’t do anything. We rented out a property, and that’s it, now we’re faced with a nightmare,” he adds.
Locks changed
It was their real estate broker who discovered, when tenants had been found for the newly renovated rental units, that the locks on the building had been changed at the beginning of March.
As their broker went to her car to call the police, two men came out of the residence and surrounded her car parked in front of the house, reports the New York Post.
When police arrived, the two alleged squatters claimed they had been living there since January, but were unable to provide proof.
The men left the house without incident. The owners then expressed their intention to change the locks.
The police told them they would be arrested if they did so.
Around mid-March, another Queens homeowner, Adele Andaloro, 47, was arrested for changing the locks on her house in an effort to rid it of squatters.
Arm wrestling
The squatters returned to the property a day later, brandishing what they claimed was a rental agreement signed by the real estate broker.
But Juliya and Kurlyand were ready.
They presented police with property documents and videos showing the house was unoccupied.
Police then escorted the men off the property, and the owners changed the locks.
Legal proceeding
Upon entering, the couple found their newly renovated house damaged by squatters.
Scuffed wooden floors, scratches on the walls and the smell of marijuana permeating the residence.
Ten days later, their real estate broker received court documents informing her that the men were suing her, the couple and the real estate company that handles the site, Top Nest Properties.
According to the owners, the squatters falsified documents.
When the couple asked the judge if, in the meantime, they could let their tenants move in, the judge replied that doing so before the case was adjourned could complicate matters further.
“The legal system is not friendly to landlords,” Mr. Kurlyand concluded.
“It can take years to evict someone who broke into your house illegally? Where is the law in all this? Why work hard to pay rent or a mortgage when you can break into someone’s house every two years and live in luxury?
The next hearing is scheduled for April 5.