The Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Melissa and Joe Gorga are still embroiled in a back and forth legal mess with the renter/purchaser of their Montville mansion, Kai D. Patterson. There have been a few new developments – mainly that Kai wants out and the Gorgas aren’t letting him off the hook so easily.
Kai has shared several new emails and documents over the past few days. As we’d prepare to share it, something new would pop up. So, I’m going to summarize up here and paste the rest in full down below for those of you who love the nitty gritty “total package.”
After the judge ordered him to pay Melissa and Joe almost $30,000 in fees, rent and attorney fees, Patterson is ready to leave the Gorga mansion. Kai attempted to persuade Joe to accept a termination agreement that would get him off the hook for both the rental and the purchase of Casa de Beaver, but Joe is not on board. Patterson even found a new rental, but is stuck until the Gorgas agree to let him go – but he may be leaving anyway.
Kai claims he is giving up on the Gorga mansion because he has received estimates from contractors on what the repairs will cost. He claims the repairs will cost between $300,000-400,000! He’s sending Joe a notice that he’s terminating their agreement and leaving the premises and feels he’s well within his rights to do so without further issue.
Here are Patterson’s emails and statements from this week, laid out in the order he sent them over to us.
I received a text from my attorney that stated he had not heard from Mr. Gorga’s attorney, who is Mr. Catania. At this point I am in a holding pattern, because there are several issues associated with staying and leaving without agreements. I would have thought they would be jumping for joy to get the notice I wanted to leave, instead nobody is getting back to my attorney to confirm what I was told by my realtor, which was they want me to stay. I don’t want to forgo the opportunity to get the house I want, and I hope this is not an attempt to preventing me from acquiring another home.
Should I just leave, they can say that I broke with terms of the lease and purchase agreement. I have put Mr. Gorga on notice for the repairs, but he stated in court that he never knew the house needed repairs and he did not see my letter to him outlining the repairs dated March 17, 2014, until last Tuesday. He also stated that he never saw the inspection report, even though it was sent to my via numerous e-mails. I’m not sure if he is trying to make the argument the repairs will be required to be fixed on September 17, 2014, in accordance with the 15 day requirement within the lease agreement. Without confirmation of the repairs, making a payment to stay in the property is a waste of money, especially with the increase in September’s rent. If I attempt to wait to see if Mr. Gorga is going to make the repairs without a commitment to do so, he will undoubtedly seek an order of removal before September 17, 2014, then say that I was evicted, I terminated the agreements on a default, and then say I am not entitled to my purchase deposit refund. I am damned if I leave and damned if I stay!
In order to leave without an agreement, my attorney has to make a strong case that Mr. Gorga was properly previously notified of the need for the repairs. Since we filed a motion to vacate the eviction last July, I believe the argument can be made that Mr. Gorga was provided with a copy of the list of repairs and the inspection report last July. His attorney was served with a copy of the motion and all of the exhibits, which included the the March 17, 2014 letter and the inspection report. Now my attorney has advised me that he is going to send Mr. Catania a letter to put him in notice that I am willing to mutually terminate the lease and purchase agreements to enable Mr. Gorga to take possession of this property. I will send you a copy of the letter from my attorney when I received it, which I am told will be in a few hours.
#2:
After being told by my realtor that Mr. Gorga’s realtor stated that Mr. Gorga wants me to remain a tenant and purchase the property, I contact my attorney Richard Koppenaal. Mr. Koppenaal called Mr. Gorga’s attorney, who is named Frank Catania by telephone. My attorney then sent Mr. Catania a letter that stated that I am willing to accommodate Mr. Gorga and allow him to move back into his home by terminating the agreements.
I have not received an answer, and I am shocked that after all of the effort Mr. Gorga executed to move back into his home, he wants me to keep the agreements and I stay. I would have thought that Mr. Gorga would have jumped at the opportunity, but I have not received an answer from the proposal that was sent by my attorney. I will keep you informed of the outcome of this new twist to this drama.
Later that night he shared, “I have provided Mr. Gorga with a Termination of Purchase and Lease Agreement to move prior to September 21, 2014 to enable the refund of my purchase deposit to be applied accordingly. Today I was notified by my attorney that Mr. Gorga did not want to terminate the lease and purchase agreement, however given the conditions of his property and my numerous attempts to have Mr. Gorga make repairs in accordance with the lease agreement I have hereby terminated both the lease and purchase agreement under the default terms and conditions of the agreements. Being that I was not given so much as a date the repairs would commence if I did not terminate the agreements, I had no other choice. Mr. Gorga has represented that he was never notified of the need to make the repairs. He has refused certified letters from me and my attorney in July 2014, and has ignored all e-mails sent to him related to the repairs, except he responded in an e-mail to inform me I have no authority to make the repairs, and posted a man outside the property to ensure no repairs were made, until I called the police to have the man removed.”
By Wednesday Patterson had reached a breaking point and wrote a long explanation of his frustration over the situation:
As I sit and write this e-mail in the kitchen of the Gorga Mansion, there are 2 areas of the mansion that have leaking roofs, 4 areas with busted or leaking pipes, a deteriorating foundation that is causing the front steps to buckle and cracks to continue to develop on the pillars, and 29 other defects found in an inspection report. I just finished using the downstairs bathroom that has beautiful fabric stapled to coverup a missing ceiling that was never installed. I was provided with preliminary estimates by a general contractor that stated the repairs could cost between $350,000 to $400,000, which is more than the amount of the rent and purchase payments agreed to be paid over the first year. There is no way I am going to make any further payments to Mr. Gorga without an iron clad agreement for him to make the repairs, thus I officially terminated the lease and purchase agreement.
On Monday, September 8, 2014, I woke up to an early call from my realtor, who said that Mr. Gorga did not want to terminate the lease and purchase agreement that I requested they do in a letter issued from me and my attorney. I then placed a call to Mr. Gorga and his realtor to request a confirmation or a date Mr. Gorga intended to make the repairs if he did not want me to terminate the agreements. I received no answer from Mr. Gorga or his realtor, who is a Remax agent.
Unable to get an answer or even a date as to when Mr. Gorga intends to begin make the repairs, I elected to terminate the agreements under the default provisions and sent Mr. Gorga a letter to inform him of the termination. Under the lease agreement, I can terminate all agreements under the default provisions if Mr. Gorga fails to make the repairs within 15 days of written notification.
Now that I have terminated the agreement, I want to reflect back on all of the misrepresentations or the Real Houselies of the Gorga Mansion:
2. The agreement included a requirement not to disclose the property was being leased by the Gorga’s attorney in paragraph 3 of the addendum to the agreement. This was a requirement because the Gorgas wanted to prevent the public from knowing the real truth about the sale of the property (See Attachment: Confidential Requirement of Lease.png). Even the realtors were required to keep the lease a secrete.
3. The Gorgas failed to register the property as a rental, which is a requirement of Montvale, New Jersey, but was not registered to enable the Gorgas to hide the truth related to the lease of their property. The Judge required Mr. Gorga to register the property before the case could be heard (See:
Story).
4. On November 21, 2014, Mr. Gorga executed a modification to the lease and purchase agreements, but fails to tell anyone he had been sued by the State of New Jersey for over $45,000, which would have prevented the sale of the property. On July 11, 2014, someone hand delivered an opened copy of the lawsuit learning the property was under contract to sell by the media stories (See:
Story).
5. Mr. Gorga failed to tell the anyone in February 2014 during the final closing, pipes had burst because he failed to winterize the home, but represented the home had been unoccupied and was in the condition of the last inspection and walkthrough that took place in September 2014 (See: Inspection Report Previously Provided).
6. Two (2) days after taking and cashing the check for the purchase deposit and the first months rent on February 28, 2014, Mr. Gorga removed 3 to 5 feet of snow that accumulated on the property to allow the property to be occupied, and at that time disclosed the additional damage to the property caused by him failing to winterize the property. Two days earlier, Mr. Gorga had previously stated the property was in the same condition as it was in September 2013.
7. In March 2014, Mr. Gorga agreed to make the repairs of the broken pipes, fireplace dampers, ceiling leaks, shower doors, and remaining broken items, but failed make the repairs other than replacing the water heater and fixing the pumps (See Attachment: Requirement for Repairs.png).
8. In April 2014, Mr. Gora gave a credit for the month of March 2014, because the water heater had not been replaced or the pumps repaired until April 5, 2014, which left the property with no hot water and very little running water for over a month. Mr. Gorga failed to provide any documentation for the credit, later denied issuing the credit, and stated that rent had not been paid for April 2014.
9. In June 2014, Mr. Gorga failed to pay his water caused by pipes that burst in October 2013 when the property was unoccupied, and which caused the bill to be paid by the Mr. Patterson’s company in June 2014 to prevent the water from being shut off. The Judge issued Mr. Patterson a partial credit for paying Mr. Gorga’s unpaid water bill.
10. Rather than make the repairs as required, in June 2014, Mr. Gorga filed a complaint for eviction, and represented the rent was $20,000 per month, by failing to include the addendum to the lease that reduced the amount of rent from $20,000 per month to $10,000 per month. The Judge ultimately ruled the amount of rent was $10,000 per month, and only was due to increase to $20,000 per month in September 2014.
11. In July 2014, Mr. Gorga issued several statements to the media that represented he was owed $20,000 per month in unpaid rent, and stated that over $80,000 had been owed. The truth was the rent was $10,000 per month, and the $25,000 purchase deposit was required to be refunded or credited as rent, which left no rent owed to Mr. Gorga (See Attachment: Requirement by Gorgas to Refund Payments.png and Exhibit J).
12. In August 2014, Mr. Gorga’s attorney stated his lawsuit with the State of New Jersey was a result of him not being notified in June 2014, when the judgement had been issued on October 16, 2013, which was eight (8) months earlier. If the lawsuit was disclosed by Mr. Gorga, the sales and leasing agreements would have been terminated in October 2013, before the closing in February 2014.
13. On September 2, 2014, Mr. Gorga testified that he had never been provided with any documents or information related to the repairs of the property, when a letter outlining the repairs was issued to him on March 17, 2014 and two (2) inspection reports were provided to him in July 2014, and August 2014, which were released to the media and several stories were published (See: Inspection Reports Provided Earlier).
14. Mr. Gorga executed an agreement that required he refund the $25,000 purchase deposit if the purchase was terminated, but has failed to do so, which requires the amount to be accrued as rent in accordance with the agreement.
In June 2014, Mr. Gorga was faced with having to make repairs that would cost between $350,000 to $400,000 to continue receiving rent and to sell his property. Faced with having to issue a refund of the purchase deposit, and faced with being exposed for misrepresenting the property was sold, once agreements were terminated, he chose to file a lawsuit for the nonpayment of rent. He lied about the amount of rent required to make the amount of rent owed appear to exceed the amount he was required to refund, when the amount owed was equal to what he was required to refund.
Had Mr. Gorga simply refunded my purchase deposit when he decided he was not going to make any of the repairs, or provided me with the credit as rent required in the agreement, there would have been no reason to start any legal proceedings. Now that I have officially terminated the agreements, thee is no doubt that I am owed a refund of my purchase $25,000 deposit. Mr. Gorga wanted me to continue to pay him rent, and payments towards with purchase of the property without making any repairs, or providing me with so much as a commitment date to make the repairs. That’s crazy!”
Termination of Purchase and Lease Agreement
THE END. for now.
TELL US – IS KAI JUST HOPING TO GET OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT NOW THAT A JUDGE ORDERED HIM TO PAY MONEY TO THE GORGAS? WILL JOE EVER REPAIR THE HOME FOR PATTERSON? SHOULD HE?
Photo Credit: Twitter
