One Brooklyn landlord says he was left in a legal battle that has lasted nearly a decade, draining him of hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and legal costs.New York courts continue to delay a final decision in a case involving a disputed lease.Thomas Diana owns an eight-unit building in Park Slope, and told Fox News that he spent nine years trying to evict a woman who originally moved into one of his apartments in 2014 as a live-in companion for an elderly and disabled tenant. The tenant later died in 2016, sparking a long-running dispute over her legal right to remain in the property and whether rent should be paid. The woman entered the home after responding to a Craigslist ad seeking a live-in companion.
What began as an informal living arrangement eventually turned into a protracted lawsuit over rent obligations, rental status, and rent stability protections.Diana said that the case went through multiple courts and procedures, with repeated delays that prevented it from being closed.“This has been going on for nine years. None of this is justice,” Diana told Fox News.He added: “Every time the case gets closer to resolution, there is another delay, another change of lawyer, another new story.”
He claims the tenant changed legal representation at least eight times during the proceedings, which he described as a “9-year lay-off”.The tenant’s lawyers reject this characterization. Casey Guilfoyle of Brooklyn Legal Services said the landlord is misrepresenting the situation.“Mr. Diana’s distortion of the facts in this case is an unfortunate attempt to harass our client and get her out of her rent-stabilized apartment, and it will not succeed,” she told Fox News.The judge did find that Diana improperly removed the apartment from the rent stabilization rules, Guilfoyle said. She said the remaining issue before the court concerned the calculation of the legal rent and potential damages. She said the tenant also has money held in escrow pending the outcome of the case.Diana disputes that claim, saying the court found no fraud and that he acted on guidance he says he received from the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal.“The judge ruled there was no fraud,” Diana told Fox News.He added: “She said I had destabilized the apartment wrongly. I did as they asked me to.”He also denies that the tenant has accumulated significant rent savings, saying her income history makes it unlikely she has set aside “anywhere near” the amounts suggested.At various points, court rulings required the occupant to pay about $835 a month in user and occupancy fees, but Diana says those payments stopped years ago.
Total losses are estimated at between $275,000 and $325,000, including unpaid rent and legal costs.Court files and testimony referenced in the dispute also show conflicting arguments about whether the apartment should remain under rent stabilization protections and whether the tenant has legal standing to remain in the unit.Diana says this process has strained his finances, including his ability to support his children’s education and maintain the building.“One out of every eight apartments not paying rent wipes out any profit,” he said.He argues that the system is failing small landlords, pointing to frequent inspections and housing court delays that he says have exacerbated costs and stalled resolution.“They’re asking you to sell your building. They’re asking you to accept a buyout, to pay the person who owes you hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “This is not justice. This is legal theft.”
