The 52-year-old bought the house in 1998. Two years later it was acquired by a real estate agency, but Gurmaret Hanspal hasn’t yet to leave the house.

busty

He was able to successfully use the US suspension rules. These rules temporarily protect homebuyers from collections and evictions. Because he declared bankruptcy and profited from this rule, Hanspal could have stayed longer in his home without being paid.

Incidentally, Hanspal wasn’t the only one who did this trick. Reports indicate that at least three illegal homeowners have misused the scheme similarly, The Mirror writes.

Attorney for Diamond Ridge Partners, the company that actually acquired the house from Hanspal at the start of this century, Jordan Katz told the New York Post to condemn the action. “This is a group of people who will do everything in their power to abuse the legal system so that they can occupy a home illegally for a longer period.”

‘Amazingly tall’

According to Katz, Hanspal has managed to hold out for an “amazingly long time” with 23 years. “Where others have tried the same, nowhere near have they been able to sustain this for so long.”

In those 23 years, Hanspal could have evaded around 366,000 euros in mortgage payments. In 2001, he filed for his first bankruptcy, and another one followed in the same year, followed by two more in 2002 and one in 2003. When this stopped working at a certain point, a friend took charge of it. This friend declared bankruptcy in 2005 and the scam could continue.