A ‘serial squatter’ who refuses to leave a $2 million Seattle home has avoided eviction for the third time after a controversial nonprofit stepped in with $50,000 in taxpayer cash to cover his rental, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Sang Kim has caused a stir in the exclusive Bellevue neighborhood after occupying a five-bedroom property owned by Jaskaran Sarao for almost two years.
But an eviction hearing scheduled for April 5 was canceled after the Housing Justice Project (HJP) covered nearly a year of unpaid rent to keep him in the property.
The total amount of state donations provided by the HJP to the shameless squatter amounts to almost $90,000.
Sarao criticized it as a “terrible abuse of taxpayers’ money”, adding that he had spent around half of Kim’s annual rental payments on legal fees in order to get his money back.
Sang Kim has sparked a furore in the exclusive Bellevue neighborhood after allegedly paying just one month’s rent out of his own pocket for a property he has lived in for almost two years.
Its current owner, Jaskaran Sarao, previously confronted Kim, claiming he owed him $80,000 in back rent and refused to vacate the property.
Kim currently lives with his wife and two children in the 1,600-square-foot, five-bedroom, $2 million home shown above.
HJP receives $4.6 million a year from Washington state and another $500,000 from King County to pay its 32 attorneys and support staff.
The extraordinary dispute comes as thousands of American homeowners struggle with a broken legal system that allows squatters to live for free in luxury homes without consequences.
Kim, his wife Yougin and their two children moved into Sarao’s house in the summer of 2022, but allegedly only paid one month’s rent out of their own pockets, according to court documents filed by the landlord.
The rest has been covered by HJP, which provides legal assistance to tenants facing eviction in Kings County.
He paid about $24,000 to cover Kim’s unpaid rent in February of last year, with an additional installment of about $13,000 covering his payments through May 2023, according to Sarao’s attorney, Steven Freeborn.
But Sarao hadn’t received a dime since then, forcing Freeborn to file a third eviction notice.
It also sparked a nasty confrontation between the landlord and tenant, while around 200 protesters descended on the property to demand the “swindler” cough or leave.
Kim even issued a restraining order against Sarao after she reported harassment.
The last eviction hearing was scheduled for April 5, but was canceled after HJP last week spent another $47,000 to cover back rent, plus another $4,400 to cover the month of April.
But Sarao has little hope that his tenant will start paying out of pocket next month and will have to file a fourth eviction notice or the taxpayer will still have to pay.
Ultimately, all he wants is for Kim to leave, he said.
Mr. Freeborn added: “I don’t think the good, tax-paying citizens of Washington state are going to be very happy about that.”
He said the HJP could continue paying Kim’s rent “as long as the state puts up with this nonsense.”
‘It’s ridiculous. They’ve paid almost $10,000 just to keep a man in a $2 million home in Bellevue.
‘For that amount of money, they could move him to a less expensive community where he could live three years or more.
‘Why do taxpayers have to pay this kind of rent?’
DailyMail.com has previously revealed that Kim and her family allegedly moved into the Sarao property from a previous squatter nearby, where they used similar delaying tactics to avoid paying rent of around $4,000 a month for a three-bedroom home valued at 1.3 million dollars. home.
It has now emerged that Kim allegedly moved straight out of a previous squat, a three-bedroom, $1.3 million property (pictured), also in Bellevue, where she avoided renting for two years.
The 2,490-square-foot property is described as “sophisticated and elegant” in the listing agent’s listing.
Around 200 people attended a protest outside the property at the weekend, chanting “no payment, no stay” in an attempt to force Kim and her family to leave.
Singh claims his tenant bought two Mazda 3s, which sell for more than $20,000, despite not paying rent for almost a year.
Kim and his wife Yougin also earned a combined income of $408,000 a year working for medical consultancy SiriusIQ when they moved into Singh’s property, according to a proof of income letter.
They lost their jobs shortly after.
But Sarao says the family continues to “live a luxurious life” at home, “having barbecues, buying new cars, living in the best neighborhood and sending their children to the best schools.”
Kim has previously accused Singh of “making up stories” about him and claims he is simply a Korean citizen trying to make it in the United States.
Washington is the only state in the country that offers the right to an attorney for low-income tenants facing eviction.
DailyMail.com contacted HJP for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Edmund Witter, its managing attorney, has previously said that the nonprofit keeps “many households housed that should not be evicted.”
In a statement to KIRO 7, the group said, “If every tenant, every time they look at someone wrong or just do something wrong, we kick them out every time, that’s how you get a homelessness crisis.” This is how people die on the streets.