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Tenant Dearest: Faye Dunaway Fires Back At UES Apartment Eviction Lawsuit
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 4, 2011
Modified Aug 4, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 4, 2011
Modified Aug 4, 2011
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Yesterday, the NY Times reported that an Upper East Side landlord was suing to evict Faye Dunaway, claiming that the Oscar-winning actress was not living in her rent-stabilized, one-bedroom walkup. Now, Dunaway has left three voicemail messages with the NY Times, explaining that her landlord can't sue to evict her...'cause she's not even living there anymore.
Dunaway, who says she got the apartment from her mentor, playwright William Alfred, and kept "out of my deep, deep affection" for him, said, "I have chosen to leave because of the state of the apartment, and also because I am spending less and less time in New York." The state of the apartment? Dunaway elaborated that her landlord, Henry Moses Jr., "refused to paint the house, and bugs were everywhere." She added, "He is a slum landlord. He has no class."
Dunaway pays just over $1,000 for the apartment; market rate for other one-bedrooms in the neighborhood is around $2,300. The actress claimed she moved in May, but then a lawyer for Moses played some voicemail messages that Dunaway left yesterday for the NY Times: In them, Dunaway "offered to hand back the apartment keys, told the landlord that she had moved out in May and informed Mr. Moses that she was arranging for a moving company to pick up some papers."
Moses' lawyer says her items are still in the apartment, "As of now, I don’t have legal possession; she hasn’t put a thing in writing. What if she goes in there and later claims, ‘I had the Hope Diamond there and my Oscar in there and you took it’?" He also played a message she left for Moses, "I hope you need that money like crazy and you’ll give it to poor people. I hope you have a terrible life."
Tagged
apartment
faye dunaway
landlord
real estate
rent stabilized apartment
Slumlord
tenant dearest
upper east side
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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