A dad battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer has been fighting for nearly a year to evict a squatter – as he struggles to keep up with the mounting costs of upkeep for the home on top of his medical bills.
Thomas Wooding, of Long Island, told News 12 that the tenant at his 4th Avenue unit in Park Slope has not paid rent since June 2023.
“I’ve made so many impassionate pleas, to please vacate my unit, she refuses,” Wooding said to the outlet.
The woman – who has not been named publicly – is supposedly retired and stopped paying rent because she was served a 90-day termination of lease notice, Wooding’s wife, Madalena, explained in a GoFundMe post.
The Woodings took the tenant to court earlier this year, but the case was dismissed on a technicality, they told News 12.
“Because she wasn’t served some kind of order that was set in place during the pandemic that we didn’t know about and the court clerk didn’t give it to me,” Madalena fumed.
The couple is bringing the case back to court, but is struggling to keep up with the mortgage, HOA fees, and lawyer bills on top of the medical costs of Wooding’s cancer.
“She gets free legal counsel and we don’t,” Madalena said of the tenant.
The local laws, she added, seem to protect tenants while putting landlords in difficult positions.
On top of the squatter situation, Madalena is the full time caregiver for her husband and their two children.
“This case is causing us alot of stress and we’ve lost alot of rental income because of her and we will continue to loose [sic] as long as she is there,” she wrote on the online fundraiser.
Thomas Wooding did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.