If you’re a landlord, you have probably dealt with some terrible tenants. But have you ever dealt with squatters that threatened to flush the ashes of your parents down the toilet if you didn’t let them stay in the apartment without rent? Such is the horrid situation currently faced by a New York woman after a home health aide and her family members commandeered the apartment of the woman’s 103-year-old mother after her death.
Such was the story reported by the New York Post, which claimed that the squatters claim to have “succession rights” to the two-bedroom, rent-stabilized apartment, for which they have allegedly not paid rent, because they were “like family” to the 103-year-old woman before she died…and not only did they take over the apartment, but they allegedly refused to let the daughter in and threatened to flush her mother’s ashes down the toilet if she tried.
The NYP reports that the Columbian squatters, a nurse named Tatiana Abello, her mother, and her sister, were first hired in 2016 to take care of a former singer named Verra Katz. Katz’s daughter is Alayne Skylar. She, speaking to the NYP about the situation, said, “I loved these people. I had a relationship with them because they took care of my mother.”
But that relationship soured when the Abellos installed a slider bolt on the door to the apartment and refused to let her in despite her being the one paying rent on the apartment and it belonging to her. Skylar then called the cops, but the Abellos refused to let the police in as well. Unfortunately for Skylar, the police in New York, the NYP reports, do not typically get involved in housing disputes, so she had to head to the courts.
That’s when the Abellos threatened to flush her mom’s ashes down the toilet, Skylar claimed, saying, “They were threatening to flush my parents’ ashes down the toilet.”
But, though the ashes were eventually returned, the proceeding was inexplicably dropped, leaving Skylar locked out of her home. The Abellos claim that they’re the legal tenants and deserve to get the stabilized rent, but Skylar disputes that, saying, “They were never on the lease. They never paid rent. How do you ‘love’ somebody and you’re going to flush her down the toilet?”
Skylar also claimed that the Abellos removed all of her parents belongings, as the NYP reports, saying:
Skylar, who is seeking to reinstate her own eviction proceeding against the Abellos, said she has no idea what happened to her parents’ belongings, after seeing social media posts apparently showing the apartment empty of her family’s furniture and mementos.
“A lifetime of belongings, mementos, my dad’s bylines, books, a great vinyl collection” appear to be gone, she said.
“If this could happen to me, it could happen to anybody who retains home health attendants,” she said.
So, before you hire caretakers from Columbia, make sure they’re trustworthy and not likely to take over your mother’s apartment while threatening to flush her ashes down the toilet.
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