An uptown chiropractor and his wife who stopped paying rent on their $19,000-month Upper East Side townhouse after Covod hit are in a court battle over $349,000 in back rent with their diamond-dealing landlord, according to published reports.
The New York Post writes that Darren Pollack and wife Sharon Russon moved into the $5 million E. 84th Street home back in November of 2019, but stopped paying the rent just four months into their two-year lease with Morris Gad, a diamond dealer who bought the 1890 rowhouse with his children as an investment.
The couple, who the newspaper says own a $2 million home in Southhampton, claim their Dasha Wellness spa and event space that they own at East 57th Street and Park Avenue has been “destroyed” by coronavirus, leaving them unable to pay the rent.
And thanks to New York State’s eviction moratorium, they’ve been able to stay at the home — and send their two kids to a $56,000-a-year Manhattan prep school, according to the newspaper.
“Not only is he bilking them and living rent-free, but thumbing his nose at them,” said Gad’s attorney Christina Smyth.
The paper reports Gad offered to lower the rent on the 3,300-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home with garden and chef’s kitchen tp $10,000 a month, but his tennants never took the deal.
But Darren Pollack claims he honored the new deal until Gad sued, Pollack attorney Gregory Skiff told the tabloid, claiming the Gads “pretended the agreement to reduce the rent never happened.”
Meanwhile, the pair has spent time in the Hamptons, traveled to Florida, and gave a significant donation to a Long Island charity, the Post reports.
“They are abusing the system,” Smyth said.
Gad claimed to the newspaper he offered to forgive the past due rent if the Pollacks moved out, but the couple wants to wait next June – when the school year is over.
New York state’s eviction moratorium ends today.
[NY Post] — Vince DiMiceli