A New York woman says she was locked out of her late mother’s apartment with her belongings and two cats still inside, and she isn’t waiting around for the dispute to resolve itself. After police allegedly told her to take the matter to court, she did.
Lovey214 says she filed an emergency motion and was preparing to go before a judge after claiming her mother’s landlord changed the locks just 10 days after her death. Her mother had reportedly lived in the Brooklyn apartment for approximately 45 years.
“Update: I went to file a emergency motion we will be in front of a judge first thing tomorrow morning!!” she wrote in a follow-up TikTok filmed from inside a courtroom.
According to Lovey214, the court filing follows her claim that she returned to the apartment and found the locks had been changed without warning. Her mother died on September 21 after living there for roughly 45 years, and Lovey claims she was given no opportunity to retrieve belongings from the home.
More urgently, she said her two cats were still inside. Lovey claimed she asked to be allowed in to feed and care for them but was denied access, even after telling police that she had proof she lived at the apartment.
Unfortunately, Lovey’s update didn’t bring good news about the two cats. When someone asked whether she had been able to get them, she said she hadn’t.
“No nypd was no help at all,” she replied, claiming officers continued telling her to go to court or contact the marshals even after she showed them what she described as proof of residency.
That apparently left Lovey with the option police had been pointing her toward all along. She went to court and filed the emergency motion.
The move is consistent with guidance from New York City Housing Court. The court says someone who believes they were illegally locked out can bring a case seeking to be restored to possession. Someone who has lawfully occupied a home for at least 30 consecutive days generally cannot simply be removed without the required court process.
Whether those protections apply to Lovey will depend on the circumstances of her occupancy. She has also said she applied for succession rights following her mother’s death, but it hasn’t been established whether the apartment is rent-regulated or whether she meets the requirements to succeed her mother as the tenant.
For now, Lovey’s fight has moved from the apartment building to the courtroom. She says she filed an emergency motion and expected to appear before a judge the next morning, though she hasn’t publicly shared the outcome.
That leaves two questions unanswered: whether Lovey will regain access to the apartment she says was her home and, more immediately, whether she will finally be able to reach the two cats she says remain inside.
