Fight with landlord mars joy

A Brooklyn family of six will be separated this Thanksgiving because of a two-month-long battle with their landlord over the lack of hot water and gas in their apartment.

Garrado Odigie lamented that his wife and five children have been taken in by relatives on Long Island for the holiday while he remains in the apartment ahead of a court date Monday.

“Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I’m supposed to spend Thanksgiving with my kids and I can’t,” Odigie told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Odigie, a supervisor at a mental health clinic for recovering addicts who came to the U.S. from Nigeria in 1990, said the fight began Sept. 27, when his 12-year-old daughter Diamond woke up at 4 a.m. to shower for school only to discover there was no water.

Odigie said when he went to investigate in the basement, he found a homeless man with a hammer and a large knife tearing out walls and pipes — and claiming the landlord had hired him. Later the same day, Odigie said, the lights and gas went out.

According to Odigie, the landlord, Labib Krunfol, later told him to “Go to the shelter and get your family out of here.” The next day, Odigie said a letter of eviction was mailed to the family, and a “For Sale” sign was posted at the front of the building.

Odigie said a police officer forced the landlord to fix the water and restore electricity to the family, but the hot water and gas have been turned off for nearly two months. The distraught dad said he’s been forced to fill the apartment with space heater and boil 10 gallons of water every morning so his children can shower.

“If he wants me out of here, this is not how to do it,” Odigie said. “What he has done, emotionally, is mess with my children.”

“They are good in school, they are top of their class and they are exposed to life with no hot water, no gas, and for some days no light,” Odigie said.

The landord, Krunfol, could not immediately be reached for comment.