By: Serach Nissim
A pair of Brooklyn landlords are reeling from city building inspectors, who slammed them with new fines, right after authorities finally cleared the properties of squatters living at their Coney Island structures.
As reported by the NY Post, in May 2019, Mohammad Choudhary and Boysin Lorick shelled out $1.3 million to purchase a trio of dilapidated homes at 3506, 3508, and 3514 Neptune Avenue, as an investment. Things went sour fast, when they found Peter Fonseca, 45, a convicted sex offender, living in a garage behind their building at 3508 Neptune Ave. When the pandemic hit, the pair of owners were stuck out of town for months. When they got back in September, they discovered that Fonseca and his wife, Trina, had been illegally renting out units to violent squatters in their absence, as per the landlords’ claim.
The struggling owners had enough to worry about, but city building inspectors issued over $370,000 in violations and fines for the houses’ decaying condition. The partners have maintained that the squatters prevented them from making the repairs, as that the occupants refuse to leave and won’t even let the owners in.
Finally, in mid-December, the NYPD and a city marshal ousted 10 people who had been living illegally in the trio of rundown Neptune Avenue homes. As per the Post, the three homes were emptied after eight hours. After finally getting their buildings back, the landlords said they are looking forward to selling the properties and putting an end to the whole nightmare. That’s when the city’s Buildings Department issued $5,000 in violations, the landlords charged. “It’s just like beating a dead body,” Choudhary complained, referring to the fresh penalties. “Inspectors knew that we have no control over property and we have suffered heavy losses,” Choudhary,70, said, adding that they owe about another $100,000 in taxes and utilities. “Still they are issuing us violations.”
Fonseca was arrested in October 2019 for sexual abuse of a minor, court records show. “You have no business here. These buildings belong to us now,” Fonseca allegedly told Lorick when the owners returned, as per the litigation. The partners had fought in court to have the city boot the illegal tenants. Per the Post, on Nov. 1, a Brooklyn Housing Court judge finally sided with Choudhary and Lorick, which led to the police action this month in ousting Fonseca and his crew.
“It was bad enough that people were giving [us] a hard time but when the city comes after you?” Lorick, 75, said.“We’re in this business so long, we’ve never seen anything like it. We just happened to step in a mine.”
A spokesman for the DOB commented. Property owners are required to keep their properties in “safe and code compliant condition at all times,” said spokesman Andrew Rudansky. He added that Choudhary and Lorick will have the opportunity to present a defense at the violation hearing if they “believe they are not responsible for the unpermitted work.”
