Even Leona Helmsley would've said that's a bit much...
or maybe she'd have sent a fan letter.
NYC man sues mom for being a terrible landlord
William Koeppel, 62, has filed documents with the Surrogate Court of Manhattan accusing his mother, 84-year-old Roberta Koeppel, of being a negligent landlady. He is also suing to have his mother and sister, Alexandra, replaced as trustees of the brood’s real estate profile.
The litigious lad claims his mother has instructed management company First Service Residential not to make repairs at the family trust’s 10 buildings, which are located in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Long Island. Instead, she has allegedly instructed the company to ignore issues and simply pay the violations fees in the name of saving money.
In depositions filed with the court, Roberta claimed she visits the properties occasionally and trusts the management company to deal with all repairs and violations.
This isn’t the first time Roberta has made headlines for being a less-than-stellar owner. In 2020, the Public Advocate’s office listed her as the 47th worst landlord in New York City. Between just two of the 10 properties, she was at the time averaging 442 open Department of Housing Preservation and Development violations. Last year, however, she didn’t make it onto the notorious list.
Despite being estranged from his relatives since his father’s 1996 death, after which Roberta inherited the properties, William is currently set to inherit eight of the buildings after his mother passes away. The other two will go to his sisters. But he claims that, as a result of his mom’s mismanagement, the buildings are losing value. The situation is quite bad, he details in court documents, stating that the properties collectively have more than 1,000 violations.
Even before the mother and son stopped talking 25 years ago, there was already extreme tension between them, Crain’s reported. Roberta’s cousin, Harriet Charles, testified in an affidavit that the mother would lock her son in dog crates and closets when she didn’t want to deal with him as a child.
“As long as I have known Roberta, her entire world revolved around acquiring more money and wealth, and most often at the expense of others,” Charles said. “In my opinion, my cousin Roberta would throw anyone under the bus to get her way when money is at issue.”
https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/nyc-man-sues-mom-for-being-a-terrible-landlord/