Interesting post by Manhattan-based real-estate attorney Joseph Ferrara about "serial evictees" at the sellsius blog yesterday. As he explains, "A serial evictee will rent an apartment or home with no intention of paying rent (other than the 1 month + security to get in the place). Instead, they plan to get evicted -– after they work the system for up to a year in free rent or cut a deal with the landlord to move out."
I'll let him continue.
"I ran into a few of these clever folks. One of my favorite stories involves an ingenious young woman who stopped paying rent and then staged her own lock-out (with a police report as proof), knowing the penalty in NYC was triple damages plus legal fees. She wanted my client, a poor spoken immigrant, to give her 6 months free rent…. or else. My investigation uncovered the fraud — turned out she was dating a law student who gave her the idea, which she had used several times with success. When I was cross-examining her on the stand and she realized her cover was blown, she literally bolted from the witness stand and tried to run out of the court room. She was tackled by the court officer and hauled into the judge’s chamber (along with her attorney). Only my compassionate client saved her from a new address, with free rent, at the city jail."
OK. Anyway, the post went on to highlight a new site called rottentenant.com -- "landlords venting and helping landlords."
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