Woman fights for rent-controlled apartment

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NEW YORK, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A New York woman is fighting with a landlord for the right to take over a $291-per-month rent-controlled apartment where she worked as a caretaker.

Margaret Hearn, 48, said she moved into the three-bedroom East Village apartment in 2008, when she became a full-time caretaker for sisters Margaret and Josephine Ruta, the New York Post reported Friday.

But Hearn said the landlord padlocked the apartment after Josephine Ruta died in March. She said Margaret Ruta had died last year.

Hearn said her brother cut through the lock and she has been staying in the apartment ever since.

"I was emotional. I had just been to a funeral, and I felt I was losing it, and this happened," Hearn said.

The landlord "wants to remodel the apartment and charge more," she said.

Similar apartments in the same building are rented for about $4,400-per-month.

Hearn said the landlord filed to evict her in May but she is fighting the order.

A lawyer for the landlord did not return calls for comment, the Post said.