Long Island Man Avoids 23 years of Mortgage Payments

Most of us know there are problems with the mortgage system and with big banks and lenders and real estate companies. In general I think we are slowly improving and pointing our compass in the right direction, protecting renters and occupants, while allowing lenders, banks and owners control of their asset. However, we need additional work in fair housing and anti discrimination. In this case, one man has found the way to avoid paying his mortgage, and avoided eviction for more than two decades wasting money and time at an incredible rate.

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He “bought” the home in 1998, at a price of $280,000 and made one mortgage payment. Since then he has successfully avoided paying anything directly to the lender / mortgage company that owns the property. Washington mutual foreclosed on the property in the year 2000. Two different banks have previously owned the property while he’s squatted there, currently the property is owned by Dimond Ridge who bought it in 2018 for $184,000 (according to public record data).

The home’s occupant, Guramrit Hanspal, has used a series of chess moves to keep the courts kicking the can down the road. Most recently he added an additional attorney to his case on the eve of a court appearance – and successfully pleaded with Judge William A. Hohauser for an extension in order to bring the new council up to speed.

“This is the last of approximately 40 attorneys who have appeared on the eve of a hearing,” Diamond Ridge Lawyer Jordan Katz told the Judge.

Diamond Ridge employee Max Sold added, “This is very typical of the defendant — he recycles lawyers to buy himself more time. This guy is basically mocking the courts.”

Desperate Measures
When Diamond Ridge bought the home from Chase in 2018, the company even offered Hanspal $20,000 to leave. He refused the offer, forcing Diamond Ridge to continue running a legal tab of over $150,000 and paid at least $50,000 in property taxes. (Source)

In total, Hanspal has filed four lawsuits and claimed bankruptcy seven times and uses the Bankruptcy Courts’ ‘automatic stay’ rules to keep living in the house. Recently he’s been using the pandemic anti eviction rules as well.

This is obviously an extreme edge case, not representative of most evictions – but it highlights several problems that need attention. In order to make change, it frequently takes astonishing stories like this to point out loopholes and problems that are being intensionally leveraged for personal gain.

Even more shocking – the home is currently for sale, and labeled “as is” cash only” and “occupied”. While similar homes are listed around $800k in the area, this unique opportunity is currently listed at $399k. Think it’s a bargain? You may be too late – as the listing status now says “pending”.

Depending on your position, you may view Hanspal’s antics as either a Hero or a Villain. Either way, it’s astonishing that he is still in the home. Do you think he will be moving soon?