Living on rent in high-end cities is a major concern for many. The payouts are too high, and the standards of the houses do not often match your requirements. However, this man seems to have found a way out of it. But in the end, it brought down trouble. For five years, a New York City man lived rent-free in a renowned New York hotel by taking advantage of a flawed local housing law. However, his clever ruse took an unusual turn when he filed paperwork claiming ownership of the entire structure, resulting in his arrest this week on accusations of submitting fake property documents.
It all started in 2018 when Mickey Barreto discovered a loophole that permitted tenants of single rooms in buildings built before 1969 to request a six-month lease. According to an AP report, he and his boyfriend paid around $200 for a room at the New Yorker Hotel, which was erected in 1930, and when he asked for a lease, the hotel kicked him out.
When the hotel refused, Mickey left his items in the room and exited. The hotel then took his possessions, returned them to Mickey, and asked him to leave. Soon after, he filed a complaint in housing court, alleging that he was illegally evicted from the hotel. The housing court judge granted an order awarding Barreto control of a specific room at the hotel. However, the story did not end there. According to the court statement, in 2019, Mickey Barreto uploaded fraudulent documents to the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) of the New York City Department of Finance, claiming to have transferred ownership of the entire building to himself from the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, which purchased it in 1976.
Mickey Barreto then began presenting himself as the hotel’s owner, demanding rent from one of its tenants. Furthermore, he had registered the hotel in his name with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection for water and sewage payments and demanded that the hotel’s earnings be transferred to his account. The rightful hotel owner filed a case against Mickey Barreto in New York County Supreme Court and was successful in obtaining an order prohibiting the conman from making any more false filings or misrepresenting himself as the hotel owner.
In his defence, Mickey said, “I never intended to commit any fraud. I don’t believe I ever committed any fraud. And I never made a penny out of this,” as quoted by AP. Earlier this week, Mickey Barreto was arrested and charged with filing false property records.
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