A man who is at the center of the Queens housing debacle is claiming he is the victim of a fraudulent business deal and will leave the property if he is paid for ‘upgrades’ he made to the residence.
Brian ‘Jay’ Rodriguez told the New York Post he is after an $18,000 to hand the house back to its rightful owner – Adele Andaloro – after his attempt to start a ‘side hustle’ went up in flames.
The housing saga that has garnered tabloid attention across the five boroughs began when Andaloro was dramatically handcuffed and led off the $1million property she inherited from her parents.
A handful of alleged squatters in the four-bedroom home then claimed they were legitimate residents of the property who had been paying rent to someone named ‘Jay.’
Jay turned out to be Brian Rodriguez, who drives a Range Rover and just became the owner of a tiny Pomeranian named Larry.
Brian ‘Jay’ Rodriguez offered to leave the home along with his tenants, if Andaloro reimbursed him for work allegedly done on the house – an amount he says totals well over $18,000
The story began making headlines when, several days back, Andaloro entered her home, flanked by reporters, in an effort to regain control of her property
Rodriguez told the Post that he was scammed into ‘renting’ the home with a fake lease drawn up by a fraudulent realtor with whom he went into business in an attempt to cash in on what he thought was a city-run program that pays landlords $1,000 a month to take in illegal migrants.
But no such program exists.
Rodriguez, despite being scammed, wants Andaloro to pay him the $18,000 he put in on repairs for the plumbing, electric work, paint job, and cleaning of the house that he says he paid for.
‘I told her that I can’t just walk out; my money is there. I told her that she should let me figure it out or pay me my money. She was furious,’ he told the outlet.
He maintains that if Andaloro pays him, he will immediately surrender the house, and even without the money, he will ‘just give it back because it is the right thing to do,’ but it might take him four-to-eight weeks to get all of his renters off the property.
‘I feel horrible for being conned. That money is everything I have. Of course I feel bad for Ms. Adele,’ he added.
‘Now I got to pay for them to leave. need a month or two to get them out. I am ready to give the house back to Ms. Adele. I’ll take the L on this one. The house really beat me up.’
In his telling of events, Rodriguez was scammed by a well-dressed man in a Flushing laundromat who he met last December and promptly agreed to go into business with on a house he could lease and rent out rooms in.
The man, ‘Ronnie Ferg,’ claimed to be a real estate broker and offered Rodriguez a lease for the four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,646 square foot home, to which Ferg had a key.
The property at the center of the dispute in Flushing, New York and is said to be worth about $1million
Andaloro was arrested for changing the locks, which is illegal under New York City’s eviction law – she has promised to pursue legal action in court
Kevin Balletsy, who claims to have a lease for the basement, says he’ll only leave when he gets his deposit back
One man, who is believed to be squatting in the home, walked past the property last week
Andaloro, whose parents left her the home, said she has no other options beyond the legal route
The lease was signed for an agreed upon $3,200 a month and Rodriguez subsequently began renting out rooms in the home.
‘I rented the rooms to local people who need places to sleep. They work for Uber and Instacart and can’t afford $2,000 a month for an apartment. Some pay $900; some pay $1,000,’ he said.
When things went wrong in the house, leaky shower heads and the like, Rodriguez says Ferg instructed him to ‘fix it myself because the owners are cheap.’
‘He said he would make sure I got a break on my rent and told me to not pay February.’
He said he pumped somewhere in the region of $23,000 into the house and was surprised when, in late February, his tenants encountered a woman (Andaloro) who’d rocked up to the property, told them she owned it and wanted everybody out.
Rodriguez then called Ferg: ‘He told me that she is probably a former tenant who wants to get back in the house. He told me to call the police.’
When the now-infamous encounter between Andaloro, the tenants, and the police took place, Rodriguez called Ferg again, who said; ‘I told you what to do,’ before his line went permanently dead.
Rodriguez says he attempted to stop authorities from cuffing Andaloro. ‘Ms. Adele could attest to this,’ he said.
At present, things between Andaloro, Rodriguez, and Ferg (who is nowhere to be found) have reached an impasse.
Rodriguez and his illegitimate tenants are not paying rent, but for the moment remain on the property as Andaloro continues to attempt to regain control of her house.
Andaloro has promised to take Rodriguez to court.