Oregon couple ‘squat’ on million-dollar Central Park block after tenant dies: lawsuit
Oregon couple, 72 and 81, are accused of squatting a $1 million NYC two-bedroom apartment near Central Park after its 98-year-old owner died…but they claim it was left to them in a mysterious will
- An Oregon couple lives in a posh New York City apartment after the original tenant died
- Sheila Upjohn, 72, was caring for the elderly woman who lived there at the time of her death
- The landlord wants Upjohn and her husband out as the current rent on the posh pad is only $1,800
A pair of elderly squatters have taken over a posh apartment building on New York City’s Upper West Side, and the landlord wants them out because they’re paying far below market rate, a new lawsuit says.
Sheila Upjohn, 72, originally from Salem, Oregon, lives illegally on the ninth floor of 46 West 95th Street in a house of 1,100, the building’s owner claims. the New York Post.
Upjohn and her husband, Donald, a disbarred lawyer, moved into the apartment when the former tenant, Mary Etta Tanuma, a fabric designer by trade, died in April 2022 at the age of 98.
At the time of her death, she was only paying $1,800 a month. Studies show that the average rent on the Upper West Side is $4,500.
Upjohn’s sister, Michelle Cassidy, told the Post that the squatter and Tanuma were as close as family. Cassidy said her sister, a trained nurse, took care of the elderly woman for the last years of her life.
Sheila Upjohn, 72, pictured here, occasionally lived at the residence with Mary Etta Tanuma where she cared for the elderly lady
Upjohn’s landlord is furious that the caretaker and her husband stayed in the house after Tanuma’s death, as the current rent is only $1,800.
Cassidy claims that her sister even took Tanuma out of a nursing home during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing her to spend her last days at home.
Cassidy used to be Tanuma’s neighbor and introduced her sister to the older woman.
“This is legit, really something. This is not my sister moving in with her in the last year of her life to try and scam her,” Cassidy told the Post.
She went on to say that Tanuma left everything in her will to Upjohn because she had no other family. In that will, Upjohn is referred to by Tanuma as ‘my friend’.
As a result of the woman’s death, Upjohn received “furniture, paintings, jewelry, furniture and household items,” the Post reported.
The pair have lived together on-and-off since 1997.
In a letter, Upjohn stated to the landlord that she was entitled to succeed Tanuma as tenant. Around this time, her husband, Donald Upjohn, moved in with her.
The landlord says in lawsuits that they have no right to live there.
Tanuma, meanwhile, had lived there since the 1960s and died without children. She paid $1,800 a month.
The landlord wants the Upjohns to pay $3,600 in back rent and wants a judge to force them into occupying the house.
While the woman listed as the executor of Tanuma’s estate in court documents filed by Upjohn, Judith McGrath, told the Post she had never heard of the late woman.
New York City property owners are constantly confronted with tenants who are illegally occupying apartments and refusing to leave. This is a clear attempt to violate the rights of property owners and we are confident that we will prevail in court,” Michael Pensabene, the attorney representing the landlord, told the Post.