Brooklyn woman pretended her dead aunt was still alive for FOUR YEARS so she could keep her $300 a month rent stabilized apt

PUBLISHED: 00:20 EST, 31 March 2013 | UPDATED: 04:58 EST, 31 March 2013

A woman is accused of lying to a co-op board and claiming her dead aunt was still alive, so she could keep her rent controlled apartment in a desirable Brooklyn neighborhood in New York.

Brenda Williams, 55, was paying just $287 a month while she fooled the building’s co-op board into thinking her aunt Debbie Vaughan - who died at age 93 in 2007 - was still alive.

Whenever residents and management at the co-op building at 673 Vanderbilt Ave. near Prospect Park inquired after her elderly aunt she would say, ‘Fine,’ or, ‘Not so good today.’

Brenda Williams has paying just $287 a month in rent at a Brooklyn co-op while she fooled the building's board into thinking her aunt Debbie Vaughan was still alive

But her scam unraveled when co-op board president Diane Hansen-Young had to go into the apartment with a plumber to fix a major leak in 2010, only to find a totally vacant apartment and a mattress.

Williams has now moved into the apartment, and it is not known why she kept it vacant for so long.

Hansen-Young brought the alleged scam to the attention of landlord Phil Cramer. He claims he has kept Vaughan’s rent low and even paid her co-op maintenance charge because she was elderly.

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He now wants to evict Williams from the pad, which is now worth $2,200 a month, and has filed a $405,000 suit in Brooklyn Supreme Court for back rent.

Williams, who also maintains her own apartment around the corner, has told the New York Post that she intends to fight to stay in the building.

'I’ve been living here since 1985. He knew I was there - he met me there,' Williams said. 'They think since she passed away that I can’t stay.'

Brenda Williams has been paying $287 a month for an apartment worth $2,200 on the current market

Woman accused of hiding aunt's death to keep her apartment will fight to remain in building - m.NYPOST.com

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It is illegal to have a rent controlled apartment if you have another home (owned or rented).

- Jennifer , Portland, 31/3/2013 22:54

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It is illegal to have a rent controlled apartment if you have another home (owned or rented).

- Jennifer , Portland, 31/3/2013 22:54

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More liberal leeches demanding others pay for them.

- Miguel Herrara , Puerta Viarta, United States, 31/3/2013 22:29

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My first apt., in MD cost more in 1966...we got FREE A/C and security.

- Tuppence , Saint Petersburg Florida, United States, 31/3/2013 21:44

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Only people in occupancy of an apartment prior to 1970 are 'rent controlled'. Rent controlled apartments are often passed on within a family if the 'new' occupant can establish that they lived there for a period of years, the landlord knew of their existance, and they paid rent and utilities. Brenda Williams is going to have a difficult job proving her right to the apartment. Rent control is not a form of sociialism, it is not means tested - it is for those who were legal residents, with a lease, paying rent at the time the rental laws changed. The apartments are what is termed Grandfathered. I heard someplace that there are only approx. 20,000 remaining in New York City. I do know of one case where the resident lives in a highly desireable neighbourhood, is in their 70's, and the landlord just learned the residents mother is alive at 110. Often these apartments are bought by speculators in the hope the resident will die and then the rent can go to market value.

- Christine , Cannondale, United States, 31/3/2013 21:32

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Welcome to Joe's Apartment!

- LuLu , Deep In The Heart of Texas, 31/3/2013 21:31

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I'm confused. Did she live there or not (the story says she did, then said the apartment was empty)? Why maintain her own, separate apartment as well (why not just live in the inexpensive one)?

- Calibruja , CA, USA, 31/3/2013 20:19

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Shades of "Miss Haversham" ---- Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations (1861).

- Chez John , London, United Kingdom, 31/3/2013 20:13

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This made me laugh. NYC is expensive yo!

- M Kats , Arlington, OR USA, 31/3/2013 18:55

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Monica from Friends pretended her grandma was alive so that she could keep her rent-controlled apartment for the entire 10 year run of Friends. Morally ambiguous at best, but I took that to mean it is an accepted, popular NYC practice. So why is this news?

- K. Anderson , Charlotte, United States, 31/3/2013 18:10

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