A defiant Yahoo Serious refuses to leave the multi-million dollar Sydney home he has been accused of squatting in.
Serious, 72, appeared on A Current Affair this week when the landlord responsible for the property in Sydney’s Palm Beach came to confront the former film star.
He is said to be living illegally with his Jack Russell terrier in the multi-million-dollar home of Charles Phillip Porter, who is in his 90s and in a nursing home.
The actor had been ordered to exit the multi-storey house on Barrenjoey Road by August 4.
Margaret Charlton is the landlord and holds power of attorney for Charles Phillip Porter, the home’s owner, who is currently in a nursing home.
She told ACA she needed to sell the property to pay for Porter’s mounting nursing home fees.
A defiant Yahoo Serious has refused to leave the multi-million dollar Sydney home he has been accused of squatting in
Reading from a court order, Margaret said: ‘The order for possession is suspended until the fourth of August… which means that I get the property back.’
Margaret then entered the property, surprised to find Yahoo still inside.
‘You’ve been living in this property while Margie’s been trying to sell it to pay for Phillip’s aged care,’ reporter Pippa Bradshaw told the Young Einstein star.
‘He’s got dementia – he can sell the property,’ Serious flippantly replied.
When told that Charlton had been unable to sell the property while Serious was occupying it, he defiantly protested that he was not squatting and was ‘sick.’
‘I’m not squatting – [I’m] surviving,’ Serious said.
‘Look at the weather out there – it’s really, really dangerous.’
Removalists then arrived to begin stripping the property of belongings; however, Serious refused to budge.
He is said to be living illegally with his Jack Russell terrier in the multi-million dollar home of Charles Phillip Porter, who is in his 90s and in a nursing home. Serious is pictured as his iconic character Young Einstein
Serious, 72, appeared on A Current Affair this week as the landlord in charge of the property in Sydney’s Palm Beach, Margaret Charlton came to remove the former film star
‘Yahoo is still refusing to go, even though we are taking all the old furniture out so the house can be sold,’ Charlton said.
She added that the situation would soon be escalated if Serious continued to flout the court order.
‘We have booked a sheriff. As soon as the sheriff comes… if he refuses to go… the police will be called and he’ll be physically removed from the property,’ Charlton said.
Speaking to Daily Mail in July, Serious denied that he was squatting at the property, despite a tribunal hearing having given him a deadline to vacate.
‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ he insisted.
Charlton also told Daily Mail Australia the former star has cost the homeowner $70,000 in nursing home fees because he refused to move out.
In March, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard that Serious used to live in the granny flat beneath the dilapidated property, which stands among the mansions overlooking picturesque Pittwater.
The tribunal was told the owner had allowed Serious to move into the granny flat, as the former screen star was living rough in his ageing BMW sedan, but he moved into the main house when Mr Porter was put into care.
She told ACA that she needed to sell the property to pay for Porter’s mounting nursing home fees
Removalists then arrived to begin stripping the property of belongings, however Serious refused to budge
‘We have booked a sheriff. As soon as the sheriff comes… if he refuses to go… the police will be called and he’ll be physically removed from the property,’ Charlton said
On April 24, the tribunal initially gave Serious six weeks to move out, Charlton told Daily Mail.
‘But his lawyer said he needed 12 weeks because he’s a sick man with lymphoma,’ she said.
Serious – and his wild haircut at the time – became suddenly famous when he starred in 1988’s Young Einstein movie and then 1993’s Reckless Kelly.
But he later fell on hard times and was taken in by Porter and Charlton several years ago. He was recently seen looking very gaunt, amid concerns for his health.
Serious told the tribunal he should be allowed to remain in the home because he was Mr Porter’s carer, which Ms Charlton strongly disputes.
‘Phillip – we call him Phillip, not Charles, is a family friend, he has been for years and years,’ she said.
‘He’s never been married, never had children, so he made me power of attorney and trustee.
‘He was getting old and getting dementia, and was having trouble looking after himself, so I was doing all his cooking.
‘It wasn’t like Yahoo was his carer. He wasn’t bathing him or dressing him. I was washing his clothes, we had a cleaner coming in.
