These are the latest victims of New York's 'insane' housing laws that have given way to a wave of absurd squatting incidents where homeowners find themselves forced to go to court to kick out brazen would-be tenants.
Denis and Juliya are a married couple who invested $530,000 in a property in Jamaica, Queens, several years ago.
On March 5, a broker they were working with visited the property for a site check before allowing tenants to move in and found the locks had been changed.
Inside the property was Lance Hunt Jr. and Rondie L. Francis, who had set up mattresses, a flat screen TV and a massage table. The men claimed to have legally leased the property months earlier and refused to leave.
Now, the homeowners are locked in a legal battle with the pair after the alleged squatters hired an attorney to sue them.
An emergency lockout hearing was held on Friday March 22 at Queens County Civil Court after the squatters' attorney, Dennis Harris served the couple, the realtor and the real estate company.
During the 1pm hearing, Rizpah Morrow, who is representing the homeowners asked Judge Vijay M. Kitson for a trial on the grounds that the two men acted in an unlawful manner.
'They perpetrated a fraud,' Morrow told the judge.
The judge told her that she is entitled to a trial, and said 'let them come to court and testify.'
But when the judge asked their attorney where his clients were, Harris told the judge one of them 'had to go to work.'
At this point Ejona Bardhi, the real estate broker with Top Nest Properties, who was also representing the homeowners in court, intervened and told the judge, 'he left because he did not want to get arrested.'
Denis and Juliya asked the judge if their new tenants could move in before the next court date. The judge agreed but warned them it may complicate the case. The next court date is April 5.
After the hearing was adjourned and the chambers doors were closed, Lance Hunt, Sr., the father of the second alleged squatter Lance Hunt, Jr., who told DailyMail.com his name was Michael, walked into the court house.
He tried to enter the judge's chambers but the court officers told him the session had ended for the day.
Denis told DailyMail.com he is outraged by what is taking place. He said that he and his wife had to take off a day of work and spend $4,000 on an attorney fees.
'I'm being sued for illegal lock out, and for damages. They uploaded fake documents and they have an attorney and notary that are working with them to scam innocent homeowners in Queens,' he said.
'They are targeting empty homes especially the ones listed on the market and the home owners are not protected.
'I intend to pursue them criminally as well as start a class action lawsuit against the city for failing to protect us.'
He added: 'This has to be stopped.'
Denis on the phone waiting for the court hearing to start as Rondie L. Francis, one of the alleged squatters, stands behind him
Bardhi said she first noticed that one of the locks had been changed on the doors on March 1. At first she assumed it may have been done by the former management company, until they told her they did not touch the locks,
When Bardhi went back to the property on March 4, she noticed the other set of door locks had also been changed, and then saw a dark figure in the window.
'I saw a man wearing a black hoodie holding a drill in his hand,' Bardhi recalled.
Alarmed she called police and the homeowners and waited in her car for officers to arrive. While she waited, she noticed more men emerge. She said they started circling her car that was parked in front of the Lakewood Avenue property.
‘They were trying to intimidate me,' she said. 'It was bizarre.'
When police arrived the men told them it was their property and they had been living there since January. Bardhi disputed their claims and said she was just at the home a day prior with a housing inspector.
When officers asked the men for proof of residency, they did not have anything to show, but told the cops they were YouTubers, and left peacefully.
Once they were out, Bardhi and the homeowners were going to place new locks on the door, but the officers told them if they do they will get arrested.
Upon learning that Bardhi and the homeowners said they were 'enraged'
She told DailyMail.com: 'The police tells us that they have rights that was the ridiculous part.'
