NYC owner of $1.1M house torched by squatters says they keep coming back and ‘have more rights’ than landlords
NY Post
The frustrated owner of a Brooklyn home that was torched by squatters said he’s repeatedly tried to do the right thing to fix up the house — but the intruders “keep coming back,” he told The Post.
Zafar Iqbal, a 53-year-old MTA worker who bought the Dyker Heights home for $1.1 million in 2017, said he’s now shelling out $6,000 a month in mortgage and going broke — thanks to the unwelcome intruders.
He’s even afraid to go near his own house for fear of the people who have taken up residence there.
“Every two or three weeks I go there but I don’t approach,” Iqbal said. “I don’t know if these guys have weapons or whatever. My safety is precious too.”
The latest victim of the city’s squatter nightmare, Iqbal said he’s been waiting three months for his insurance claim to go through so he can finally spruce up the property that has become an eyesore.
“I got a couple of contractors, they started working on the house,” he said. “Next thing I know I got a call from the fire department that the house is burnt out. Somebody got in there and torched my house.
