Dozens of native elected officers and victims of deed theft urged the Metropolis Council to fund authorized companies for victims of deed theft at a Could 20 rally.
Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Brooklyn lawmakers rallied alongside group members and householders on the steps of Metropolis Corridor on Could 20, calling on the Metropolis Council to allocate $5 million of subsequent yr’s finances towards combating deed theft and supporting victims of the crime.
Black and Brown householders in quickly gentrifying neighborhoods the place property values are skyrocketing — like Mattress-Stuy and Bushwick — are significantly in danger for deed theft crimes. In accordance with the New York State Legal professional Common’s workplace, the New York Metropolis Sheriff’s Workplace has obtained practically 3,500 complaints of deed theft between 2014-2023, and greater than 1,500 have occurred in Brooklyn — probably the most of any borough. Nevertheless, fewer than 30 deed theft perpetrators have been convicted of a criminal offense.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso mentioned Brooklyn wouldn’t tolerate scammers preying on susceptible Black and Brown householders. Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Deed theft is the unlawful switch of property possession with out a house owner’s data or consent. Scammers typically forge a home-owner’s signature on a brand new deed and file it with the county clerk’s workplace or trick householders with pretend refinancing presents, fairness stripping, and foreclosures bailout loans.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who’s spearheading the hassle with help from native Council Members Chi Ossé, Farah Louis, and Sandy Nurse, mentioned combating deed theft is expensive and time-consuming. A typical deed theft case can require upwards of 300 legal professional hours and 7 years to finish, he mentioned.
Many deed theft victims, most of them seniors, don’t have the monetary assets to rent a personal regulation agency, Reynoso mentioned, and Brooklyn’s free authorized service suppliers are overwhelmed with deed theft instances and lots of lack grant funding to combat deed theft head-on. The $5 million funding from the Council would fund authorized companies for victims of deed theft and broaden training and outreach packages to warn susceptible New Yorkers about what deed theft scams can appear like.
Deed theft sufferer Rachel Cyprien has been combating for 15 years to get her deed again. Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
“Brooklyn will not tolerate scammers coming to our borough to prey on vulnerable Black and Brown homeowners and steal their homes from right under their nose,” Reynoso mentioned. “This investment offers the City Council an opportunity to keep our communities whole and give Brooklynites a fighting chance to remain in the homes they’ve owned for generations.”
Ossé, the co-chair of Council’s Brooklyn delegation, represents Mattress-Stuy and north Crown Heights. He mentioned Mattress-Stuy has skilled a major displacement of Black residents during the last ten years — greater than every other group within the metropolis.
“One of the results and reasons for that is deed theft that is impacting the streets of Black Brooklyn,” mentioned Ossé, who recalled that his sick grandmother was harassed day by day by scammers, making an attempt to push her to promote her house by third-party switch and tried deed theft. “Deed theft is one of the most cruel crimes committed in our city. It is abuse inflicted primarily on the seniors who built our communities.”
Council Member Chi Ossé shared that deed theft scammers tried to prey on his grandmother. Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Louis mentioned combating deed theft, which strips Black and Brown households of the properties and generational wealth they spent their lives constructing, was a racial, ethical, and housing entry situation.
“That’s why today we are calling for the administration to invest $5 million in the FY 26 budget to expand access to free legal services, support outreach, and help victims fight and reclaim their homes,” Louis mentioned. “We cannot allow immoral and deceptive practices to continue.”
Nurse, whose district consists of Bushwick, Brownsville, Cypress Hills, and East New York, introduced she would introduce laws, co-sponsored by Reynoso and Ossé, on Could 28 requiring the Division of Shopper and Employee Safety to create a web site that publicly lists all people convicted of committing larceny by deed theft.
Council Member Sandy Nurse is introducing laws to publicize deed theft criminals. Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Nurse described deed theft criminals as “white collar thugs” who conceal behind LLCs whereas destabilizing Black communities in Brooklyn.
“We need to name and shame these criminals, these white collar thugs, these parasites that are using tools and preying on our elders, and particularly our black older adults, because that’s who they’re targeting,“ Nurse said. “We will find you, we will name you, and we will shame you.”
Along with investing in assets combating deed theft, state Meeting Member and candidate for Mayor Zohran Mamdani known as for a one-year suspension of the statute of limitations for deed theft.
Underneath a brand new regulation handed in 2024, the statute of limitations to prosecute deed theft crimes prosecution should start inside 5 years of the theft or inside two years after the rightful house owner realizes their deed has been stolen, whichever happens later. The regulation additionally established deed theft as a criminal offense and expanded the Legal professional Common’s capacity to prosecute deed theft — underneath earlier regulation, deed theft itself was not a criminal offense.
“We have to ensure that each elder has the instruments they want to attract up their property plans, and at last, to help measures on the state degree to droop the statute of limitations for one yr to make sure that there might be justice for thus lots of these householders who’ve been tricked and deceived and lied out of that which they’ve spent their total lives combating for,“ Mamdani mentioned.
Queens Meeting Member and candidate for Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, known as for a one-year suspension of the statute of limitations for deed theft. Picture by Gabriele Holtermann
Sean Davis, senior workers legal professional with Mobilization for Justice’s foreclosures prevention venture, shared the story of a shopper making an attempt to avoid wasting their household house. After unsuccessful makes an attempt to refinance by conventional mortgage lenders, his shopper grew to become the sufferer of a”arduous cash mortgage” — a short-term mortgage with a excessive rate of interest designed to fail.
Simply because the scammer had deliberate, Davis’ shopper defaulted on the mortgage, and the title of their house routinely transferred to the perp. MFJ and their shopper sued the prison in 2019, however the lawsuit remains to be ongoing regardless of a choose’s ruling that the mortgage was unlawful.
“Even with that finding, [our client] is still fighting, and that’s just one story of the hundreds or maybe 1000s that are happening in Kings County,“ said Davis, pointing out that victims of equity stripping and scams were desperate for help. “In addition to funding for free legal services to help victimized homeowners, New York should improve its outdated consumer protections, to ban unfair and abusive practices and empower homeowners to hold scammers accountable.”
