New York Metropolis rental sues resident over continuous weed behavior
A seemingly entitled poker participant is taking residing the excessive life slightly too actually.
Alleged pot-head Chau Shing Lam has been smoking cigarettes and weed in any respect hours of the day and night time, and burning up his Kips Bay neighbors’ endurance, in keeping with an explosive new Manhattan Supreme Court docket lawsuit.
Property information present Lam paid $4.15 million in August 2022 for a condominium unit within the luxurious Kips Bay constructing — which has all the time had a transparent non-smoking coverage.
Hoping to lastly nip his “near-daily” weed behavior within the bud, the board on the luxurious 368 Third Ave. condominium — the place a penthouse is presently listed for $8.7 million — is suing the high-flying resident who let $87,000 in fines go straight up in smoke, courtroom information obtained by The Publish present.
Lam is an avid poker participant who has competed in worldwide tournaments in Monte Carlo, Paris, Barcelona, incomes lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} in winnings.
He has allegedly been lighting up pot and tobacco in any respect hours and sending “noxious smoke” wafting via hallways and into neighboring properties.
The secondhand fumes are seeping into the bed room of a 12-year-old baby battling a extreme respiratory situation, the go well with claims.
The child in unit 31A, “has been recognized with reactive airway dysfunction syndrome, a severe respiratory situation that’s instantly exacerbated by publicity to secondhand smoke,” courtroom paperwork state. The kid’s father is a practising doctor.
“Within the final month, goal air high quality monitoring has persistently documented PM2.5 (wonderful particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter) within the neighboring unit at harmful ranges, together with ranges labeled by the [US Environmental Protection Agency] as “Unhealthy” for all individuals and intensely harmful for a kid with this situation,” per July 17 courtroom information.
That’s the identical classification used throughout excessive wildfire occasions, just like the orange haze that blanketed the East Coast from Canadian wildfires, and respiration that air is the equal of smoking about seven to 10 cigarettes.
The go well with comes because the household with the sick baby “will probably be completely shifting into the adjoining unit the week of July 20, 2026,” public information present.
The lawsuit asks a choose to declare Lam, who didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark, in breach of constructing guidelines.
The neighbors above and under Lam, who additionally goes by the identify Andrew Lam, allegedly reported smoke odor made its manner into their properties.
To make issues worse, Lam allegedly throws late-night ragers full with “loud banging, working round, and yelling.” And, there’s “loud, incessant canine barking” coming from his unit, per courtroom paperwork.
Regardless of neighbor complaints, 16 board violation letters over a roughly two-year interval, “escalating fines,” suspension of amenity privileges, and employees trying to talk to Lam in regards to the points, the cussed smoker refused to vary his methods.
In whole, Lam’s behavior has run up an eye-watering $87,250 in penalties, which have been utilized to his month-to-month frequent costs statements.
In 2024, the board levied varied fines in opposition to him for smoke and canine barking complaints, and stripped him of “non-essential companies.” He was additionally prohibited from utilizing the constructing’s facilities together with the laundry room, health club, frequent roof terrace, residents’ storage rooms, the media room and celebration room and bike storage room for lengthy intervals.
Friends, supply employees, and repair individuals have been strictly barred previous the concierge desk until Lam personally escorted them. Doormen have been forbidden from calling as much as announce arrivals or holding packages aside from normal US mail, whereas all routine unit repairs — aside from constructing emergencies — have been flat-out suspended.
By late 2025 and early 2026, the fines surged because the complaints saved rolling in.
Over the course of almost two years, he racked up extra facilities bans, and nicely over $75,000 in fines and penalties.
Board attorneys known as Lam’s conduct “egregious and unacceptable,” and an “inexcusable and unrelenting sample of willful misconduct.”
“Hello, are you able to please cease making these non sense [sic], I’ve been smoking right here the previous two 12 months [sic] and the constructing is aware of and didn’t say something about it, and extra individuals smoke within the buildings,” Lam wrote again to the board in an e mail on June 16, per courtroom paperwork.
“And after I discuss to my neighbor I attempted to cease and after our final dialog on the tenth I haven’t even smoke within the house, I’ve weed saved and carried, however that completely wonderful it my proper to do this. So please cease.”
Lam is understood to the constructing employees (and is within the constructing system) as Andrew Lam, concierge attendant Michael Bonilla advised The Publish. Lam was not house when The Publish paid a go to Wednesday afternoon.
Bonilla advised The Publish he’s presently in Asia. Footage of Lam at a poker event earlier this month in South Korea noticed organizers seek advice from him as each Chau Shing Lam and Andrew.
Bonilla, who works on the constructing from 11 pm to 7 am, says he personally has had no gripes about Lam, and his entry to constructing companies and facilities have since been restored.
On Monday the courtroom issued a short lived restraining order pending the listening to of the movement, which implies Lam is court-ordered to stop lighting up in his house, on the balcony or within the constructing’s frequent areas — no less than for now.
“The Board made repeated good-faith efforts to resolve this matter with out resorting to litigation, however after exhausting each obtainable avenue, we have been left with no selection however to carry this motion to enjoin the unit proprietor’s ongoing misconduct and shield the pursuits of the condominium group,” the board’s legal professional, Jake Bedor, a companion in Fox Rothschild, mentioned in an emailed assertion to The Publish.
Victor Kamara, senior property supervisor at FirstService Residential, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Accomplished in 2021, Vu rental has 100 models and rises 36 tales. Constructing facilities embody kitchen and pantry for entertaining, a residents’ lounge, a screening room, a health heart, a quiet studio and a rooftop terrace.
