Celebrity chef Madison Cowan evicted from Brooklyn apartment after years-long rent dispute
BOERUM HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Celebrity chef Madison Cowan was evicted from his townhouse in Brooklyn on Tuesday, following a years-long rent dispute with his landlords.
With a knock on the door, and a turn of a key, the four-and-a-half-year ordeal was over. The tiny apartment was empty, and Cowan was finally gone.
His landlord, Gus Sheha, says he's disheartened, angered and relieved at the same time.
Sheha and his brother John are the owners of 191 State Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. At first, they were impressed with their new tenant.
Cowan is a celebrity chef who whipped up world-class dishes on the Food Network and morning television. They say he paid $2,750 a month for the first three months, then didn't pay another dime for the next four and a half years.
When Sheha approached Cowan about rent, he says the chef just kept going upstairs and ignored him.
The Shehas took Cowan to court and got eviction orders but were turned away at the door after Cowan filed one appeal after another in a process that went on for years.
Cowan raced down five flights of stairs to avoid Eyewitness News cameras after his final court appearance in May, when the eviction order was upheld.
Cowan told the judge that his work was "seriously impacted by the pandemic," and that the publicity surrounding his rent dispute had made it worse.
"I couldn't get a job," he said. "It all went away."
Gus Sheha says Cowan never called him during the pandemic or even after it to work something out.
"I had reached out to him. I don't believe a word he says," Sheha said.
Attorney Chad Karp is an expert in real estate law.
"You can start a case for non-payment of rent, and it could take you up to six to eight months before you're even in front of a judge," Karp said. "And at that point, it can take another 16, 18, 20 months before you get any recourse. The laws are there, essentially, to protect the masses. And the masses are the tenants in New York City."
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