NYDailyNews

Landlords have every right to evict tenants from their property for one reason or another; but all landlords must follow a prescribed legal procedure. More importantly, they have to prove that the tenants to be evicted are able to be evicted under article 7 of the RPAPL. They can’t evict tenants without serving them with a notice of termination or notice to cure in a timely manner prescribed by law and done so in an acceptable method.

Most landlords follow a legal procedure to evict undesirable tenants. But some don’t bother, seeking financial benefits from illegal, fraudulent government schemes as an alternative.

One such incident has recently come to light in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Supreme Court has sentenced Yuri Baumbilt, a landlord, to jail for up to 5 years for following crimes:

• Bilking public assistance
• Unlawful tenant eviction
• Grand larceny
• Scheming to defraud

What is the Matter?

Yuri Baumbilt mercilessly threw all his tenant’s belongings into the street without a court order. According to the prosecutors, he forced the tenant to leave and locked the house after. He also broke his cooking utilities (stove) to make sure he couldn’t cook for himself.

He crossed all legal limits of cruelty and took away the tenant’s bed after evicting him unlawfully and inhumanely. The tenant was left with no option but to sleep on the floor for at least four months and sue to get justice.

The tenant successfully sued him and got his bed back. Rimma, Yuri Baumbilt’s wife, was his accomplice in this incident. The authorities had nabbed both of them back in 2016 and had also seized many expensive items from their $3 million residence. The list includes:

• Fur coats
• Designer bags
• Mercedes Benz

Baumbilt was also pushing his tenants into drug treatment programs to pocket kickbacks from Medicaid providers.  According to the prosecutors, Yuri and Rimma successfully extracted the amount of $1.5 million using this tactic. The couple has pleaded guilty to these wrong doings last month.

According to Mr. Eric Gonzalez, Brooklyn District Attorney, Bambuilt and Rimma always targeted people who desperately needed a house to line their own pockets. The couple must be put behind the bars for their fraud and inhumane actions, said Mr. Eric Gonzalez.