Ahmet Nejat Ozsu has lived in a 700 square meter apartment on the Upper West Side of New York for 15 years. Last year, a housing developer bought the building and persuaded everyone but Ozsu to move. He turned down the developer’s offer of $30,000 and ignored an eviction notice. Now the developer is suing him for $25 million. But thanks to a no-eviction rule implemented by the City of New York during the pandemic, Ozsu may be able to stay in the apartment for years. Meanwhile, the developer installed a large, noisy air filter next to Ozsu’s door and mounted a security camera in the hallway.
From the New York Times:
The housing market is booming, a potential boon for holdouts like Mr. Ozsu. Manhattan had its highest home sales of any first quarter in 33 years, with new home sales nearly doubling the same period last year, according to a recent report by realtor Douglas Elliman.
Similar conditions have resulted in a small number of high-profile settlements for holdout tenants. In 2005, Herbert Sukenik, a longtime resident of the Mayflower Hotel, negotiated a $17 million buyout in Weg of 15 Central Park West, a luxury tower, plus the right to sell for $1 in a nearby two-bedroom apartment with a view to live on the park a month. His attorney David Rozenholc, who specializes in tenant refusal cases, collected a third of the settlement.