A landlord was left in shock after an alleged squatter reportedly made tens of thousands of dollars subletting his New York apartment - despite owing him at least $72,000 in rent.
For the last three years, the tenant - Thor Boucher - has reportedly refused to pay any rent in the $2,000-a-month, two-bed Lower East Side apartment in Manhattan.
Boucher claims he doesn't have to pay up because the building was 'noisy and shook' according to landlord Ed Yau and Manhattan Civil Court documents.
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It seems he has however been subletting the space for some time, charging $1,950 per month for over two years.
Naturally, Yau feels betrayed over what's happened and says officials haven't been much help.
“I feel betrayed by my politicians, the bureaucracy,” Yau told The New York Post.
“The system needs to be fair because right now it’s easily exploited.
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“Housing court is not functioning so rent is optional — they don’t have to pay and nothing is going to happen to them.”
The man living in Yau's apartment said he has been paying rent to Boucher, but did not say how much when approached by The Post.
“You’ll have to talk to Thor,” he said, shutting the door.
Yau has struggled to evict the tenant due to state laws, which he says are 'bending over backwards for the tenant'.
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Boucher also reportedly applied for the Covid rent-relief program during the pandemic, which helped protect him from eviction.
Ann Korchak, president of the industry group Small Property Owners of New York, says stories like Yau's will lead to landlords pulling their rentals from the market.
“If it’s a small building, if one person stops paying, that’s the difference between you being able to pay your taxes and mortgage or not,” she said.
“The average person who has a 1-3 family house is so risk averse because they hear these stories [and think] ‘Without any support I’ll be stuck housing somebody for such a long time.'”
Yau says State Senator Brian Kavanagh and state Assemblywoman Grace Lee haven't been much help to him.
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“They gave sympathy, but no action,” he said. “Just lip service.”
Yau thinks that officials are more likely to back policies which benefit tenants over landlords in an effort to become more appealing to a wider selection of voters.
UNILAD has also contacted Kavanagh and Lee for a comment.