CHRISSY IN CRISIS
Model & hubby Legend booted from SoHo pad
MUSICIAN JOHN Legend and his pregnant model wife Chrissy Teigen got bumped from their SoHo rental Friday amid claims the pricey property was an illegal short-term rental. The couple was seen abruptly packing their belongings and vacating the premises after cops and city officials knocked on the door of the Sullivan St. home featured in one of Teigen’s Instagram posts Jan. 27. Teigen,32, who’s due in June, scurried out the door wearing a hooded bathrobe and furry slippers as her main defenses against the inclement weather. A woman staying in the property’s basement apartment said police first knocked on her door early Friday, saying they were investigating a report of an illegal sublet. “The cops were here earlier in the morning. They rang our bell and were knocking on the windows. They were inquiring about an illegal AirBnB,” Katherine Haddon, 39, a tourist from Boston who was visiting Manhattan with her husband and baby for the weekend, told the Daily News. “They were asking how large the place we’re staying in is, its set-up and the number of bedrooms,” she said. “They had had a complaint from a neighbor.” A spokeswoman for AirBnB said that while the building’s owner has rented properties with the company in the past, this time, the celebs did not use their service. On Friday, the city served the owner, Sullivan Street House LLC, with a violation for having an illegally converted basement without required egress, a fire alarm or a certificate of occupancy. When reached by phone, the building’s owner, Richard Fertig, said the information was incorrect, but declined to comment further. Haddon said she rented her property from a man named Richard and thought he was the person living above her. She was surprised to learn her upstairs neighbors were a famous family. “I had no idea,” she said, adding that she did recall hearing some music wafting down from above. Chantel Nishimora, manager of a nail salon a few doors down, said she considered Legend, Teigen and their toddler daughter Luna welcome additions to the neighborhood. “They were good neighbors,” Nishimora, 23, said. “You’d see them walking around the neighborhood with their child, but mostly it was dark SUVs and their drivers. And across the street there were always paparazzi. They were never a problem.” Another neighbor told The News that the Sullivan St. pad is famous for catering to celebrities. “Weeks ago, it was P. Diddy staying there,” said Ricardo Chen, 41, of the Bronx, a worker at the dry cleaner across the street. “Before that there was some supermodel the paparazzi were snapping at. There are celebrities in and out of there all the time.” Teigen posted a photo of herself and Legend on the building’s stoop before the Manhattan-based Grammy Awards on Jan. 28. Representatives for the 39-year-old Grammy winner and his family did not return calls seeking comment.