'Squatters' Sue Couple After ‘Breaking In’ And Refusing To Leave Their $930,000 Home

In New York, Juliya Fulman and her husband, Denis Kurlyand, are in the midst of what they're calling a living 'nightmare'.

They're currently grappling with a lawsuit from alleged squatters and facing thousands in legal fees.

So far, the couple has shelled out $4,000 in legal costs.

This is all because of a group of alleged squatters who are said to be unlawfully residing in their home, valued at $930,000.

These unwelcome guests are now trying to claim legal rights over the property.

They're leveraging New York laws that offer squatters a range of legal protections once they've lived on a property for more than 30 days.

"It's absolutely absurd. These people literally broke into my house. It's not fair to us as homeowners that we are not protected by the city," Fulman expressed her frustration to the New York Post.

Credit: Instagram / @julie_julz4

Denis added his perspective: "You can't really even blame them in a way because it's handed to them on a silver platter."

"Something needs to be done because the issue is getting worse. People are taking advantage of these laws, manipulating the laws, and our hands are tied."

The couple had purchased the duplex as an investment and spent $530,000 on renovations. They had just begun to find tenants for both units.

The situation took a turn for the worse on March 5. Their real estate broker, Ejona Bardhi, found that the locks were changed and people were inside the property.

Bardhi recounted how, after discovering the breach, she was intimidated by several men from the property as she was heading back to her car to call the police.

The Daily Mail reported that two men claimed to the police that they had been living in the property since January but left shortly after.

However, when Bardhi mentioned changing the locks again to the officers, she was told she and the owners would be arrested if they attempted it.

"What did we do? Nothing. We put up a property for rent, and that's it, now we're dealing with a nightmare," Kurlyand lamented.

The next day, the men came back with a document they claimed was a lease agreement signed by Bardhi but were escorted away by police after the homeowners provided evidence of the home's vacancy.

Despite changing the locks, the situation worsened ten days later when Bardhi received a court order.

Credit: Instagram / @julie_julz4

The men were suing her, the homeowners, and Top Nest Properties, the company managing the site.

At an emergency lockout hearing in Queens Civil Court on March 22, the homeowners' lawyer argued for a trial, claiming the men had used 'forged documents'.

The lawyer for the alleged squatters maintained that the men had provided 'enough for me to believe they were living there'.

Dennis Harris, the attorney, told the Daily Mail: "They showed me a rental application, a lease, text messages, and correspondence. Is it possible that this is a big scam?"

"Certainly anything is possible, but I don't believe it. If there is a scam, they may have been scammed by someone else pretending to be the landlord."

Both parties are set to appear in court again on April 5. Kurlyand shared, "It's 'scary' to have the decision regarding his own property taken out of his hands."

"As in any courtroom, you never know which way it's going to go. It's scary, if the judge decides for whatever reason to rule against us that day, even if we have evidence, there's nothing we can do at the end of the day, we still have to fight in court."

"Somebody broke into my house, and I'm in court getting sued by them. How can we be here? How is this possible? There have to be safety precautions in place."