Man Posed As Dead Rent-Stabilized Tenant To Hold Onto Apartment

CHINATOWN, NY — A Chinatown man has pretended to be a dead woman for more than two decades to hold on to her rent-stabilized apartment, according to a lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court.

The suit, filed by R.A. Cohen and Associates, claims that for years tenant Shao Tang Hu renewed the lease for an apartment at 21 Catherine Street posing as Boo Hai Lee, who had rented unit 3C in the building since 1993, according to court documents.

Lee died in 1994 but the building's owner at the time, Quang Big Realty Corp., says it was unaware that Lee had passed away. Hu, who is believed to be Lee's godson, continued to renew leases for the unit and signed the agreements in her name. He used the coveted rent-stabilized apartment as a office from 1995 to 2017, the lawsuit states.

R.A. Cohen has owned the five-story building since 2015 and discovered that Hu was using the apartment as an office after he renewed a two-year lease for the space in 2017 — continuing to pose as Lee.

In the suit, the building's owner asked a judge to order Hu's property be removed from the apartment and that he vacate the unit.

R.A. Cohen did not immediately return a request for comment. Hu could not be reached for comment.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps Street View