Long Island man dodges eviction for 20 years, living in house he doesn’t own

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A Long Island man who only ever made one mortgage payment has deftly used the courts to stay in the house for 23 years — for free, according to legal papers.

Guramrit Hanspal, 52, has filed four lawsuits and claimed bankruptcy seven times to avoid being booted from the 2,081-square-foot East Meadow home he “bought” for $290,000 in 1998.

So far, it’s worked: two different banks and a real estate company have owned the three-bedroom, 2.5-bath home since Hanspal was foreclosed upon in 2000. But Hanspal remains.

Hanspal’s not the only occupant of the home leveraging the U.S. Bankruptcy Code’s “automatic stay” rules, which give debtors a temporary reprieve from all collection efforts, harassment, and foreclosures.

At least three other people listing the home at 2468 Kenmore St. as their address have also filed for bankruptcy in Brooklyn Federal Court, winning the “automatic stay,” only to have the claims eventually dismissed, court records show.

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At least one judge thinks it’s time for Hanspal to go.

“The history of this case going on for approximately 20 years must come to an end,” Nassau District Court Judge Scott Fairgrieve wrote in a December 2019 housing court proceeding.

Diamond Ridge has spent $150,000 on legal fees and paid $50,000 in property taxes since purchasing the home, said member Max Sold, who added, “as of this writing [we] still have no known end in sight.”

The pandemic may give Hanspal yet another reprieve, noted Katz, who said the COVID-19 backlog in New York’s housing courts has kept them from pursuing their eviction effort.

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