Abuja – April 15, 2024 – Viewpoint Housing News
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.
Yau has struggled to evict the tenant due to state laws, which he says are ‘bending over backwards for the tenant’. 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.’”