Eugene and Nina Sarver say they made the ill-fated determination two years in the past to hire a room of their spacious West 97th Avenue condo for $992 a month.
J.C. Rice for NY Submit
An aged Higher West Aspect couple declare they’re caught with the “roommate from hell” — an abusive, entitled 30-something actual property agent who’s utilizing authorized loopholes to keep away from paying them a dime in hire the previous yr.
Eugene Sarver, 78, who makes use of a wheelchair and suffers from extreme Parkinson’s illness, and his spouse, Nina, 74, who has dementia, say they made the ill-fated determination two years in the past to hire a room of their spacious West 97th Avenue condo for $992 a month to Lawrence Lee, a licensed agent whose antics might price him his gig with actual property titan Douglas Elliman.
Eugene Sarver alleges Lee routinely eavesdrops on their conversations, and has particularly freaked his spouse out with “poor hygiene habits” that appeal to rodents and different pests to the condo.
“He’s a horrible tenant and a pathological liar!” Sarver thundered to The Submit.
The couple says the expertise has left them so pressured that they’ve been out and in of hospitals the previous yr for coronary heart situations and different illnesses whereas making an attempt to get Lee evicted — solely to observe the savvy salesman drag out the method by repeatedly making use of for state help after which interesting after being rejected.
It’s gotten so unhealthy that the couple usually stays 10 miles away at a Bronx nursing house whereas Lee has free reign over their rent-subsidized, $2,200-a-month, three-bedroom, two-bathroom discount that features plush workplace area.
Lee stopped paying his share of the hire and utilities in June 2021 — and now owes the couple $12,518 that they needed to lay out, in line with information offered by the Sarvers.
That very same month, Eugene Sarver filed a police report alleging Lee violently yanked a cellphone out of the senior’s fingers whereas he was within the technique of interviewing “a possible tenant” to interchange Lee, NYPD information present.
“He got here into my workplace and grabbed the telephone out of my hand very vigorously,” the retired international advertising whiz and political science lecturer recalled. “My arm harm for 2 weeks. And he mentioned, ‘I'll by no means transfer.’”
The senior, nonetheless, added that authorities instructed him they didn’t have sufficient proof to pursue costs in opposition to Lee.
Manhattan Housing Court docket filings present the Sarvers are searching for to get Lee evicted, however the course of has been held up the previous yr as a result of the alleged moocher has repeatedly utilized for assist by way of the state’s Emergency Rental Help Program.
By legislation, he can’t get tossed out the condo if he has appeals pending — though information offered by the Sarvers present he’s been rejected a number of instances and easily continues to avoid the system by re-applying for help.
Eugene Sarver mentioned Lee’s utility continues to get rejected partially as a result of the couple received’t log out on papers claiming the realtor is entitled to help. The senior mentioned he and his spouse received’t cooperate as a result of Lee is “scamming the system” and so they need no a part of it.
“He noticed a chance to earn a living, however he lives an costly life-style,” Sarver mentioned.
Throughout a go to to their condo with the aged couple Friday, a Submit reporter noticed Lee shifting a large air conditioner into the area. When requested to remark, he dropped the air conditioner on the lounge flooring and ran for canopy in his bed room.
A Submit reporter and photographer then needed to transfer the equipment in order that Eugene Sarver might get round the lounge in his wheelchair. Lee later continued to say no remark earlier than fleeing down an eighth-floor stairwell.
Hours after The Submit reported on the state of affairs, a Douglas Elliman spokesman mentioned Lee is not with the corporate and that it plans to supply to pay the Sarvers the cash Lee owes them
Extra reporting by Irie Sentner
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