He could have saved money by being a decent human being.

He was banking on us not showing up, or showing up woefully ignorant of our tenants rights. Wrong on both counts.

He never even told his lawyer that we needed pass through his office to access our kitchenette space. The foyer, entryway and common room are all attached to his alleged office… yet he tried anyway to barricade us and serve us a notice.

He is so used to thinking he’s the smartest guy in the room that he was totally blindsided by our ability to prove all of our claims in a succinct manner, but also appeal to the judges legalese.

What aggravates me is his arrogance and greed. My grandfather bought this building to make sure his family (myself, his granddaughter) would be housed. Not for my uncle to hoard resources and extort tenants who are undocumented and marginalized.

He lied about having to host clients and having this office. He is retired and hasn’t done work (real estate) in years. His only work is basically managing this brownstone.

My uncle claims we have extorted him, and lied under oath to the judge about alleged assaults that never happened (verbal confrontations occurred but never anything physical).

Even though our budget is a reasonable price ($2,000-2200), the NYC market is just horrendous and impossible for families unless they’re “fuck you” wealthy.

Essentially, my landlord uncle has been seething for an entire year because he thought we could find a three bedroom apartment in a week after leaving our last place in the Bronx…