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A couple is facing a tough legal battle after a pair of alleged squatters accused of unlawfully moving into a Queens duplex are suing them.
The alleged squatters decided to take over the $930,000 (£730k) home after property owners, Juliya Fulman and Denis Kurlyand put the home up for rent.
However, if you thought keeping out unwanted guests is a breeze, New York City’s permissive laws make it a nightmare.
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According to the law, squatters need to occupy a property for just 30 days before legal protections come in to affect which makes it difficult for owners to evict.
"We are not protected by the city"
Juliya explained to The Post on Sunday how her $4,000 (£3,000) legal battle is going: “It’s absolutely absurd.
“These people literally broke into my house. It’s not fair to us as homeowners that we are not protected by the city.”
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Her husband, Denis added that the stringent laws made it easy for the squatters to attempt to claim rights to the home and that they are ‘opportunists’ playing the system: “You can’t really even blame them in a way because it’s handed to them on a silver platter."
"They were trying to intimidate me"
After spending half a million on the home to renovate it, they had even managed to secure tenants for both rental units when their real-estate agent, Ejona Bardhi, discovered that the locks had suddenly been changed on 5 March.
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Bardhi told the Daily Mail that she knew the lock change wasn’t authorised and peeked through a window to find out what was going on. Only to find a silhouette of a man with a drill in hand.
Bardhi then went to report he findings to the police, which was when several men rushed from the residence and circled around her and her parked car.
“They were trying to intimidate me,” she said.
That was when the alleged squatters stated to police that they had been living there since January, but had no proof.
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However, it took a turn then the cops told the homeowners that if they changed the locks, they’d be arrested.
The alleged squatters left but returned one day later with a lease agreement they claimed was signed by Bardhi.
Thankfully, the couple were able to hand police ownership documents and timestamped videos showing the house had been vacant.
Even after changing the locks, the pair’s nightmare had just begun.
"I don't know how they had the audacity to show up in court"
Ten days later Bardhi was served with court documents notifying her that the men were suing her, Top Nest Properties, the real-estate company and the couple.
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The squatters attended an emergency lockout hearing on 22 March in Queens Civil Court, to fight their case.
However, the homeowners claim their ‘forged documents’ seemed to have been created by merging public records documents which were hastily photoshopped.
Denis said: “They found whatever they could and threw it all together. The lease they presented is ridiculous — signed on Jan. 1 and starting Jan. 1."
Juliya added: “I don’t know how they had the audacity to show up in court.”
Though, the alleged squatters’ lawyer, Dennis Harris, told the outlet that he had been handed a rental application, a lease and text messages which had shown him ‘enough for me to believe they were living there’.
The next court date is 5 April, and the couple were told that if they were to move ahead with their plans to rent the unit out, it would complicate the case.
Denis said: “The court system is not favourable to landlords.
“It could take years to evict someone who illegally broke into your house? Where’s the law in that?
“There have to be safety precautions in place.”
An NYPD spokesperson referred LADbible Group to the NYPD patrol guide when approached for comment.
The guide states that 'when a uniformed member of service has probable cause to believe that a person has been unlawfully evicted from his dwelling unit', they should effect an arrest if the owner 'refuses to permit occupant to re-enter or who through physical obstruction prevents the occupant from re-entering'.
Britt Jones