Ex-Con Lives In UES Hallway After Mom Kicks Him Out: Reports

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side landowner is suing a man for turning a residential building's hallway into his home after being kicked out of his mother's apartment, according to multiple reports.

Steven McPhail, 51, has turned the fourth floor of a building on York Avenue near East 73rd Street into his private den, complete with the cardboard box he's been sleeping in, the New York Daily News and New York Post both reported.

And the squatter has been a less-than-ideal neighbor, according to reports.

McPhail has taken to urinating in the hallways and discarding his dirty clothes and trash right outside people's doors, landlord Robert Galpern claims in a lawsuit, the New York Post reported. The man's past criminal history also worries the building's residents. McPhail served six years in Gowanda Correctional Facility for assault and rape in the 90s, the Daily News reported.

Galpern has tried to convince the squatter to leave the building, but each time resulted in a confrontation that left him feeling unsafe, the Daily News reported.

"Every time plaintiff would go to talk to the defendant, plaintiff was in tremendous fear of imminent bodily harm and death because of defendant’s past criminal history."

Galpern's lawyer, Migir Ilganayev, declined to comment about the case.

McPhail took to squatting after living in the building with his mother Nancy for nearly three years, the New York Post reported. After fights became more frequent, Nancy finally kicked him out and even took out an order of protection against her son, the Post reported.

Photo by Google Maps street view