It can’t be denied that
since the beginning of the pandemic. The
State of New York has mishandled many things, from filling to protect the
elderly in their retirement home to asking the restaurants to take extraordinary
measures to protect their customers from COVID-19, only to force them to close
down a few weeks later.
Another bad decision from
the State of New York is the blanket
moratorium on eviction and its Hardship Declaration Form. Simply checking a box gave all tenants, rich or poor, a shield from
eviction, and being taken to Court. The
law itself was a good option in a hurry to make sure poor people didn’t become
homeless in mass until the State of New York managed to get them relief.
Unfortunately, it also
protected people that have never lost money during COVID or regain these losses
but still use the Hardship Form to skip on rent. That’s the case for Doctor Ava Thaw, a dentist, and her husband (Michael Safko), a
retiree that continued to receive, his full pension during COVID but stopped paying
their small landlord altogether.
If the lawmakers had taken
more time to write the law, they might have added a provision for landlords to
request the tenants to prove that they were under hardship. In the eyes of the law, hardship means being
impacted negatively to a point where the tenants are too sick to move to a new
apartment or work and pay their rent in full.
This video was released
yesterday on YouTube and shows how Michael
Safko, in May 2020 when the first eviction ban took effect, had already
decided and warn his landlord that he wouldn’t pay rent unless his conditions
were met. All that despite the lease
being over in February 2020, before COVID arrived on US soil. Claiming to be Judgment Proof, Michael
informed Mario, the landlord, that if he didn’t agree to his terms, they (the
landlord) would lose 40,000$ or more as it would take a long time to evict
them. The property, located at 366 Park
Hill Avenue in Yonkers, New York, is a single-family home almost new and
luxurious. The rent price is below
average, and the tenants and the rent have not increased in the years that
Doctor Ava Thaw has lived there. You
would think it would have earned the landlord some respect and honesty from his
tenants.
Fast forward to May 2021,
and the landlord has lost 50,000$ already and counting. All they have received are incredible demands
from Michael Safko and his daughter Amanda. The colorful woman doesn’t hesitate
to throw her own mother under the bus in the video. If it was not so tragic, it would be
funny. The latest demands; “give us
money so we can move and forget the 50,000$ we owe you already” or “sell your
house and pay us the difference in rent at our new place.”
The video is upsetting to
watch, whether you are a landlord or a tenant.
It shows that Doctor Ava Thaw doesn’t want to move to a smaller house,
something they can afford because she wants to keep operating her pottery
business. The business occupies half the
house, in a residential area. The
tenants have unlawfully installed a pottery kiln which has drawn the attention
of the city of Yonkers. As mentioned in
the code violation, it is a major risk for fire and needs to be removed. Something that Doctor Ava Thaw refuses to
do. Of course, the three violations and
fines will go to the already struggling landlord, not the tenant.
Dishonest people are
everywhere, rich or poor. That’s why a blanket moratorium was doomed to fail to
protect the small landlords from the beginning.
Of course, not telling the truth on the Hardship Form is a crime. My investigation took me all the way to the
New York Attorney General and the office of the governor. It reveals that no one seems to know how to
go and stop these bad actors. Normally,
that’s the judges’ job, but the same law that protects these tenants also
prevents judges from questioning the honesty of the people who have signed it.
It is even more puzzling
that for you and me, a dentist with an opened clinic in Manhattan and a retiree
that continued receiving his pension during COVID should be considered in
hardship. By their own admission in the
video, Doctor Ava Thaw has lost some income during COVID, but to use that as an
excuse to claim hardship and not pay your rent in over a year, dishonesty,
plays a bigger role.
Last week, the moratorium
on eviction in New York was extended to August 31st. The extension doesn’t ask people that might
not be in hardship anymore to resubmit a form or prove their hardship. It is simply assuming that they are, which
means 16,000$ of additional loss for Doctor Ava Thaw’s landlord as she still
has no intention to leave his property or pay the rent.
Now, I wasn’t sure if I
wanted to mention that fact, but Doctor Ava Thaw contributed 7,800$ to the
Democratic Party in the past. Looks like
a good investment now.
Link to the video: https://youtu.be/If6BskVIujw
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