A man who managed to avoid paying mortgages for 23 years will finally be evicted after a judge ruled that he doesn’t qualify for COVID protections.
52-year-old Guramrit Hanspal has been living for free in a three-bedroom and 2-and-a-half bath home in East Meadow home for more than two decades.
But he is now facing eviction after Nassau County Housing Court Judge William Hohauser ruled that he is not covered by COVID protections.
According to reports, three different owners have already attempted to kick Hanspal out of the property since it was foreclosed upon by Washington Mutual way back in 2000.
“The protections of the COVID declaration would inhere to tenants, but not to those who have no financial obligation,” the judge ruled, adding those who illegally stay in foreclosed homes “could be considered occupants at ”sufferance” if not outright squatters.”
In his ruling, Hohauswer said that Hanspal’s behavior “which reflects no payments of any kind for decades, augurs strongly against any protection.”
Hanspal reportedly purchased the property at 2468 Kenmore St. in 1998 for $290,000. He then defaulted after making only one mortgage payment of $1,602.37.
He has used every loophole available – from drowning the courts in legal action to hiring lawyers at the last minute to stay in the house.
When the pandemic hit, landlords were banned from evicting tenants who had lost their jobs.
The latest ruling was great news for real estate company Diamond Ridge, which now owns the property and has been trying to kick Hanspal out.
The company’s attorney, Jordan Katz, told the Post that “we intend on immediately enforcing the court’s order and ending this illegal occupancy.”
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