Renters cannot stand up in illegal New York mini-apartments

An apartment in the New York district of Manhattan has been illegally converted into eleven mini-flats where the tenants could not stand up. They had to move on their knees, otherwise, they would hit the ceiling less than 140 centimeters high.

The apartment is sealed but the released photos from the New York Department of Buildings seem to come straight from the movie “Being John Malkovich” where a scene takes place at the straight 7.5th floor.

Owner Xue Ping Ni recreated his 59 square meter apartment in eleven different rooms without windows.

A duplex was created in which he could put his tenants on two ‘floors’. The monthly rent was $600, a bargain in Manhattan.

The authorities immediately found a list of security breaches and sealed Ni’s premises.

The tenants are housed in reception centers by the American Red Cross. Xue Ping Ni has to pay $144,000 in fines.

Scene from ‘Being John Malkovich’.