Their “roommate from hell” is finally out the door.
An elderly, ailing Upper West Side couple have reclaimed their beloved apartment after an allegedly unsanitary and abusive 30-something real estate agent agreed to leave following a court settlement. The roommate, Lawrence Lee, had been using legal loopholes for a year-and-a-half to avoid paying rent.
“I’m so happy he’s out! He is a criminal … sadistic and a dark presence in the apartment,” fumed Eugene Sarver, 79.
Both sides agreed to the settlement in December, and Lee honored it by leaving the apartment by Tuesday’s deadline. They’re still duking it out in a separate civil case over at least $22,691 that Sarver and his wife Nina allege Lee owes them in unpaid rent, utility costs and other expenses on the W. 97th Street apartment.
After the Post exclusively reported last June how the alleged moocher was making life hell for the Sarvers, real estate giant Douglas Elliman offered up its own high-priced lawyers and cut ties with Lee, who previously worked for the company.
Eugene, who uses a wheelchair and suffers from Parkinson’s, and Nina, 75, who has dementia, began renting Lee a room for $992 a month three years ago.
The couple alleges Lee – who hasn’t paid rent since June 2021 — was physically and verbally abusive, a serial eavesdropper and a filthy pig whose poor hygiene brought rodents and other pests to the apartment.
They said the experience was so upsetting that they’ve been in and out of hospitals for heart conditions and other ailments over it.
They also said the very thought of being around Lee was so unnerving that they relocated over a year ago to a Bronx nursing home, leaving Lee full access to their rent-subsidized, $2,200-a-month, three-bedroom, two-bathroom bargain while continuing to paying bills to avoid losing the apartment.
Earlier eviction proceedings by the Sarvers against Lee were held up for two years because he repeatedly applied for aid through the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program and then circumvented the system by re-applying after being rejected.
Now that Lee is out, the Sarvers are unsure of their next move. Eugene said they are considering moving back to the apartment but also are weighing selling it to the building’s landlord for hefty sum, so it can be converted and flipped as a condo.
Lee didn’t return messages.
