{"id":155705,"date":"2026-03-06T21:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155705\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T21:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:46:09","slug":"nightmare-squatter-from-hell-may-have-legal-right-to-late-new-yorkers-lifelong-swanky-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/155705\/","title":{"rendered":"Nightmare ‘squatter from hell’ may have legal right to late New Yorker’s lifelong swanky apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"

An accused squatter from hell<\/a> could actually have a claim to the rent-controlled pad in a swanky West Village building where he\u2019s allegedly been terrorizing neighbors for months, legal experts said.<\/p>\n

Melvin DeJesus, 66, moved into the 5th-floor unit at 400 Bleecker St. roughly two decades ago when a lifelong New Yorker with a \u201cheart of gold,\u201d John Grafenecker, took him in, a close relative of the late tenant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn really took care of Mel no matter what \u2014 he paid a lot of bills, food, Con Edison,\u201d said Grafenecker\u2019s kin, who asked to remain anonymous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Grafenecker lived at 400 Bleeker St. from 1946 until his death last fall. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a very good heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeJesus stayed in the apartment after Grafenecker\u2019s death at 84 last year and is now facing possible eviction \u2014 as the building owner claims he turned the enviable digs into a \u201cflophouse\u201d and has been making death threats against his neighbors, The Post previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the alleged terrifying tenant could have a right to keep the coveted rent-controlled unit, according to guidelines governing the scarce affordable housing supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs horrible as the behavior is, it seems in this case that this squatter may actually have succession rights to this apartment,\u201d said David Schwartz, an attorney at boutique New York City-based law firm Aidala Bertuna & Kamins PC.<\/p>\n

Melvin DeJesus after a housing court hearing Wednesday. William Farrington for NY Post<\/p>\n

The roughly 16,400 rent-controlled units in the city require continuous occupancy \u2014 either by the original tenant or \u201clawful successors\u201d \u2014 since 1971, according to the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Succession rights are triggered when someone has lived in the unit for over two years and proves some sort of relationship \u2014 familial, romantic or financial \u2014 with the primary tenant.<\/p>\n

DeJesus has claimed in court papers that he has legal right to remain in the apartment because the now-deceased longtime tenant was actually his gay lover of 30 years.<\/p>\n

Residents discovered a five-gallon tank of gasoline outside of DeJesus\u2019 door last month. New York County Clerk<\/p>\n

But DeJesus\u2019 claim to Grafenecker\u2019s home of 79 years made his relative \u201dfurious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he has any right to do that,\u201d the family member fumed, telling The Post that Grafenecker and DeJesus were essentially roommates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I going to do?\u201d DeJesus said during a housing court hearing, \u201csleep on the streets?\u201d William Farrington<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s news to me,\u201d the relative said of DeJesus\u2019 claim that the two were domestic partners.<\/p>\n

The eviction case against DeJesus is ongoing, but Schwartz said The Brodsky Organization\u2019s $5.5 million lawsuit against the accused nightmare tenant could see him banned from the building \u2014 regardless of the outcome in housing court.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce this starts affecting other people in the building and creates a dangerous situation, it goes beyond the scope of landlord tenant law,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this were happening somewhere else besides New York City, this person would have been thrown out already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grafenecker first moved to apartment 5B as a five-year-old. William Farrington for NY Post<\/p>\n

Grafenecker\u2019s kin recalled that DeJesus was \u201cpleasant\u201d sober, but said they saw first-hand the \u201cvery nasty, very violent\u201d behavior \u2014 described by neighbors and in court papers <\/a>\u2014 as his apparent drug and alcohol problems grew.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Grafenecker] was appalled by it,\u201d and made several reports to police, though continued to foot DeJesus\u2019 bills, the relative claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Grafenecker] was a good person,\u201d his family member said. \u201cHe had a heart of gold\u2026 he wasn\u2019t appreciated by Mel.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the story of how the odd duo two met is unclear, Grafenecker\u2019s life as a village fixture is rich in detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a very good heart,\u201d Grafenecker\u2019s relative said. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

He moved into 400 Bleeker St. as a five-year-old in 1946 and lived there until his death from natural causes in October.<\/p>\n

A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, he ran boutiques in the village, including one once directly across the street from his lifelong home called \u201cTwo of a Kind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was a play on the name of his first shop, \u201cOne of a Kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cElton John came in and bought a whole bunch of stuff,\u201d the relative told The Post. \u201cThey went out to dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His third boutique on Charles Street, \u201cSheik,\u201d was featured in a 1979 New York Times story.<\/a><\/p>\n

Grafenecker later became a gardener, doing projects inside building lobbies and for private gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved that, and was very good at it,\u201d his relative recounted, and continued working until a few years before his death.<\/p>\n

Grafenecker\u2019s apartment \u2014 which he likely rented for a fraction of the market cost \u2014 would lose its rent-controlled status should DeJesus get the boot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grafenecker owned a series of village boutiques. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

But because the building \u2014 where a two-bedroom apartment recently rented for $6,700 a month \u2014 has over six units, it would likely enter a less restrictive affordability program, rent stabilization, instead of being offered at market rate.<\/p>\n

At a hearing for the landlord\u2019s eviction case Tuesday, a court clerk mentioned the pending lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court<\/a> against DeJesus \u2014 which seeks an order to ban him from the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I going to do?\u201d DeJesus replied, \u201csleep on the streets?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeJesus declined to comment when reached by phone.<\/p>\n

His daughter told The Post that he\u2019s estranged from his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accused squatter from hell could actually have a claim to the rent-controlled pad in a swanky West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68,53965,4327,57,9,56,63,65,64,14835,7978,58,2380],"class_list":["post-155705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-exclusive","tag-landlord-tenant-dispute","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-squatters","tag-tenants","tag-us-news","tag-west-village"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}