Squatter leaves apartment without paying 19 months of rent
Madelana Wooding said their former tenant, who she said stopped paying rent after they raised it by $150, moved out of their apartment at 660 4th Ave. at the end of December.
A Long Island couple is facing another battle after finally getting a tenant-turned-squatter to move out of their Park Slope apartment.
Madelana Wooding said their former tenant, who she said stopped paying rent after they raised it by $150, moved out of their apartment at 660 4th Ave. at the end of December.
As News 12 first reported last April, the couple were battling the squatter in housing court while Wooding's husband is battling pancreatic cancer.
"He's been on chemo for four months now which is the reason he is not here, so he is not doing very well," she said. "I want him to focus on that but this of course is stressing him out."
They are owed more than $30,000 in unpaid rent and feel the housing court system has failed them by allowing proceedings to drag out.
"There is no consideration that the financial clock is ticking, said Lincoln Eccels, vice president Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY). "Every single month we have obligations to pay."
Eccels said he'd like to see state laws better define squatters and give small landlords due process rights in evictions.
Now that the Wooding's former tenant has moved out they must now start the process over again to try and get 19 months of rent they are owed.
The couple said they plan to file a civil case.
News 12 reached out to their former tenants attorney for comment and did not hear back.
