Mental Health

Couple desperate to kick out son to avoid own eviction: suit

An elderly couple is suing to boot a troublesome tenant from their Upper West Side apartment — their son.

Michael Daniels, 76, and Sara Daniels, 72, say the harsh measure is necessary because the co-op board is threatening to evict them from their rent-stabilized home of more than 50 years because their son, Leonard Daniels, is accused of terrorizing their neighbors.

Since Leonard, 50 — who suffers from a multiple personality disorder, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit — started crashing at his parents’ pad in 2004, tenants said he has been a menace, demanding a job from building staff, threatening the building manager, using “crude and vulgar” language in front of residents, and even getting into a fight with the board president, which resulted in a call to the cops.

“They’re obviously conflicted about doing this but they’ve tried many times to reason with him but it doesn’t really seem to work,” said the couple’s lawyer, Barry Schwartz. “He yells, screams, accosts board members, threatens them verbally, threatens them physically. It’s a bad situation.”

The co-op board at the West End Avenue pre-war building, where some apartments have been converted to luxury units that sell for $1.3 million, has threatened to evict the parents over Leonard’s behavior, Schwartz said.

The Danielses have lived there since 1963.

Mom and Dad have asked the son to leave, but he keeps hanging around, according to the suit, which the couple filed Tuesday.

Schwartz said Leonard has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and spent some time in a Manhattan psychiatric clinic.

Leonard could not be reached for comment.

The lawyer said Leonard had been married, but moved back home after his divorce.

“He has spent a significant portion of his life in that apartment,” Schwartz said. “He’s had jobs but they didn’t amount to much.”

Schwartz said the parents don’t know where their son would go if they get him out.

“I’ve had cases between families — someone’s trying to get rid of someone else for money — but this one is a novel one,” Schwartz said. “And it’s a very unfortunate one.”