In a bizarre case of rent fraud, the owner of a Brooklyn co-op apartment is suing the niece of a long-time former tenant there. Reports indicate that Brenda Williams lied to the owner for almost four years, stating that her aunt was still living there, when in fact, she had been dead the whole time.
The owner of the complex had been keeping the rent low for his longest resident Debbie Vaughan, who had lived there since 1959. Williams had been living there for roughly half of that time and potentially illegally ever since 2007.
In 2010, co-op board president Diane Hansen-Young had to enter the apartment with a plumber to fix a major leak attributed to Vaughan's unit. When they entered the unit, neither Vaughan nor any of her possessions were present. Only a large pile of mail and a lonely mattress.
This is where the story gets weird. Starting in 2007, Williams had often made excuses to management as to why they could not see her aunt. Since Williams had been around the complex for so long nobody questioned her on it.
"Williams claimed 'her aunt was paranoid and senile and if we knocked on the door, she would have a heart attack,"said the co-op board's president, Diana Hansen-Young.
Williams had even gone so far as to pay the $287 rent payments by money order in Vaughan's name. What is so strange about it though, is that Williams had not actually lived in the apartment while she was doing this, as she had her own place just around the corner.
Landlord Phil Cramer had been keeping the rent low and even helping out with other assorted fees as an act of charity for the elderly Vaughan. Similar units in the apartment complex now go for at least $2200 a month, representing almost $2000 a month in lost revenue. Cramer is now suing Williams, who has since moved into the apartment, for over $400,000.
Why Williams would illegally pay $250 a month for a unit that she wasn't even occupying is a truly baffling question. She is not backing down without a fight, however, insisting that she had a right to live there.
"I've been living here since 1985. He knew I was there - he met me there," Williams said. "They think since she passed away that I can't stay."
