I contacted a Mr. Adam S. Cohen on April 14 about an apartment he was advertising for sublet on New York's Craigslist at 111-55 77th Avenue, Apt. 1B My husband and I needed a place to stay for the month of May where we could babysit our 13 month-old granddaughter while her mother worked at home. We made arrangements for our daughter, who lives nearby, to view the apartment, and Mr. Cohen agreed to rent it to us for $1850.00, including all utilities, plus another $1850.00 for a damage deposit. While talking on the phone, Mr. Cohen told us that he had another apartment and a Real Estate Management business in Manhattan. We googled his name and found that he was indeed the President of a company called Woodlands International, located in the Empire State Building. This information made his seem more than credible and on April 17 we sent a Wire Transfer to his bank in the amount of $3700.00. Our daughter met Mr. Cohen at his apartment again at the beginning of May and he gave her a set of keys for us. We arrived in New York the morning of May 4th and while the apartment hadnt been cleaned as promised, we were happy to have a place to stay close to our daughter and her family.
The first hint we had that something was wrong was when the cable and internet were disconnected on May 13th. After phoning and e-mailing Adam, who claimed to be in San Diego and Miami during this time, the services were reconnected on May 16th. However, on May 16th we got an even bigger surprise when we opened the front door to find an eviction notice. The notice only had the name of Sally Cohen on it, so I located the Superintendent of the apartment building to ask if the apartment was rented to Adam or Sally Cohen or both of them. He told me he couldn't give me that information but gave me a number to call for the company that managed the building. He also said that Mr. Cohen was a con man and not to believe a word he said. I phoned Ditmas Management at 516 374-7000 and spoke to a Sue Marino. She said the apartment was rented to both Adam and Sally Cohen, and that they owed $7000.00 in back rent. She said the only way the eviction could be stopped was for him to go to Court and pay the rent in arrears, which he had done numerous times in the past. I explained our situation to her and she said he was a liar and not to expect to get our damage deposit back. I also called the office of the City Marshall, Maxine Chevlowe, several times, to find out if we were on the list to be evicted the next day. We notified Adam about the eviction notice and he said not to worry, that he would come by on Monday, May 19th, and take care of everything. He actually did come by that day and took the eviction notice down. He said it was all a misunderstanding and that he thought his wife had been paying the rent. Mr. Cohen told us he would come by the day before we left and give us our damage deposit back, with an extra $200.00 for our inconvenience.
We did manage to stay until May 28th, our day of departure, without being evicted. Mr. Cohen did come by on May 27th, not to pay us our damage deposit, but rather to take something (a tool, I think) out of the apartment. He said he would be in the neighbourhood the next day, but after we would be flying out, so he would return our damage deposit to our daughter. She tried calling him and making arrangements to meet him a number of times, but he said he was sick, or forgot, or didnt return her call. We tried calling him repeatedly for days after we got home, but just got a message that his voicemail was full.
As Mr. Cohen owed 3 or 4 months rent on his apartment when he advertised it for rent, it would appear that he sublet his apartment to us in order to pocket the damage deposit. According to the NYS Department of State License records, Adam S. Cohen held a Limited Liability Company Broker license and 2 Notary Public licenses. Woodlands International, Llc is listed as a Domestic Limited Liabiltiy Company in the Real Estate Agent/Manager line of business. Sally Cohen also holds a Salesperson license and is associated with Woodlands International Llc.
Gayl
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada
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