Ukrainian refugee pleading poverty after eviction had property empire

Revealed: Ukrainian refugee who was evicted by his ‘heartless’ British landlord is a former cop who had a lucrative property business and enjoyed exotic holidays to Dubai

Ukrainian refugee Maxim Hyryk faces eviction in England that could see his family of nine on the streets
He earned £1000s in donations as landlord Dudley Malster wants to evict them from home in Fareham, Hants
It has emerged Mr Hyryk is ex-police and ran buy-to-let property empire in Kyiv linked to string of complaints
Social media posts include driving a Mercedes and taking luxury holidays in places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi

The Ukrainian refugee who gained widespread sympathy over claims he faces being made homeless by his British landlord is a former police officer who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle through running a lucrative buy-to-let property empire in Kyiv, MailOnline has learned.

Maxim Hyryk faces eviction proceedings in the UK that he says could see him and his family of nine dumped on the streets – which has led to an outpouring of support and thousands of pounds donated to help.

Mr Hyryk and his relatives face being booted out of their two-bedroom bungalow in Fareham, Hants, by landlord and Royal Navy officer Dudley Malster.

But in a new twist it’s now emerged that Hyryk was himself previously a landlord figure linked to a string of complaints in Kyiv.

Multiple former tenants have come forward to reveal how Mr Hyryk was at the helm of a property business that ran at least an estimated 14 valuable properties in the Ukraine capital – many of which are linked to complaints by tenants about his conduct.

It’s also emerged that far from being from a poor background as was widely assumed, Mr Hyryk previously occupied a well-paid position as a senior police officer and has even run for election as an MP.

He also appears from social media posts to have enjoyed the trappings of considerable wealth – including driving a Mercedes and taking holidays in luxury locations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Mr Hyryk’s wife Olga (pictured) also has police links. She graduated from the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine – or police school – in 2012

Ukrainian refugee Maxim Hyryk (pictured with wife Olga in Dubai, 36) who gained widespread sympathy over claims he faces being made homeless by his British landlord is a former police officer who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle through running a lucrative buy-to-let property empire in Kyiv

Maxim, 36, and wife Olga Hyryk fled from Kyiv with children and elderly parents to Fareham, where they had settled

But in a new twist it’s now emerged that Hyryk was himself previously a landlord figure linked to a string of complaints in Kyiv

A 2011 video of Hyryk’s lavish wedding suggests both he and his bride were well-off more than a decade ago

Father-of-five Mr Hyryk, who arrived in the UK with his wife Olga is involved in disputes with a string of disgruntled former tenants, though he denies the claims made against him, describing them as ‘nonsense’ and blames problematic clients

Landlord Dudley Malster is a married senior officer in the navy with 20-year military career which has included Afghanistan

Father-of-five Mr Hyryk, who arrived in the UK with his wife Olga, both 36, is involved in disputes with a string of disgruntled former tenants, though he denies the claims made against him, describing them as ‘nonsense’ and blames problematic clients.

The couple, their two mothers and five children were paid UK benefits and fast-tracked into housing after their arrival in Britain.

They were initially embraced by landlord Mr Malster as they fled as victims of Vladimir Putin’s bloody war.

The family had travelled for nine days through their conflict-ravaged homeland to a refugee camp in Poland before arriving in the UK under the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.

No explanation was publicly given as to why one month later the Royal Navy officer abruptly withdrew their tenancy and sought to evict them.

Now investigations in Kyiv suggest Mr Hyryk has a colourful and controversial past unknown to his family’s many British sympathisers who helped them raise tens of thousands by crowdfunding to provide a roof over their heads.

In Kyiv, Mr Hyryk faces court challenges over disputes with multiple tenants in some of the properties he rented out, MailOnline has learned.

He and Olga lived a wealthy and glamorous life in Ukraine with his former tenants insisting he had ‘millionaire’ status.

His previously unknown past indicates he is a former police criminal investigator with political ambitions – failing to win election to the Ukrainian parliament in 2014, yet many details of the Hyryk biography remain obscure.

He and Olga lived a wealthy and glamorous life in Ukraine with his former tenants insisting he had ‘millionaire’ status.

Mr Hyryk and his wife Olga lived a wealthy and glamorous life in Ukraine with his former tenants insisting he had ‘millionaire’ status

Pictures and a video show Maxim and Olga enjoying summer and winter vacations in exotic locations

Maxim and Olga enjoying a luxurious skiing holiday

Pictures and a video show Maxim and Olga enjoying summer and winter vacations in exotic locations.

A 2011 video of Hyryk’s lavish wedding suggests both he and his bride were well-off more than a decade ago.

Olga boasted in a post on Russian social media network VK: ‘I was proposed to in Dubai, in the world’s tallest tower Burj Khalifa. Max, I love you.’

Her husband graduated from prestigious Kyiv National Economic University, in 2007, with a diploma from the faculty of finance and economics.

Accounts say he enjoyed a meteoric rise in the police in Kyiv region to acting chief of criminal investigations in his area in charge of combating organised crime, yet much about his career remains a mystery.

He is said to hold a later degree in public administration from the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.

The source of the property and business empire he was running is unknown but open source public records show him connected to more than a dozen apartments, and having had involvement in at least six companies, in some cases alongside his refugee mother Olena, 60, who appears to have played an important business role.

Mr Hyryk’s wife also has police links. She graduated from the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine – or police school – in 2012.

Some of Mr Hyryk’s former tenants have taken him to court, claiming that rent they paid was not properly recorded.

Anastasia Yatsenko, 24, a civil servant, working in Kyiv, said: ‘I met Maxim Hyryk in June 2020, He himself showed me the flat, there was no one else besides him,’ she said. But he said he was acting by power of attorney from his mother Olena Hyryk.’

Ms Yatsenko says she was told to pay a fee to him as if he was an estate agent, when in fact the flat was owned by his family, she claimed.

Payments for the deposit and rent were made on his instructions to an associate of Mr Hyryk, she claims.

Yet when she moved out, she claims he insisted she had not paid any rent and owed back payments of around £2,500.

Ms Yatsenko said: ‘When I read the news from Britain, I was surprised Hyryk was there. I thought he was in my shoes now. I was shocked. How can they be refugees and collect money from the Brits?

‘I am angry that people don’t know who Maxim really is.’

Another tenant, Alina Dvorzhanska said that a court case is still pending and is due for a hearing in Kyiv. She alleges that Mr Hyryk claimed she hadn’t paid him rent, when she insisted that she had. She claimed that she had also paid the associate as Mr Hyryk had instructed her to. ‘I paid it to this third-party,’ she said.

Mr Hyryk allegedly got into disputes with others by renting out apartments to them but sued them because they did not pay him for a year or two. Some of his former tenants say he was demanding back rent payments of up to $20,000.’

She said: ‘I would very much like [Britain] to kick him out.’

Another former tenant, Ivan Ivanov, said Mr Hyryk had first acted as an estate agent ‘and took a 50% commission, despite himself being the owner of the property’.

Mr Ivanov said: ‘After I left leave the flat, he sued me and accused me of not paying rent throughout the lease agreement. I personally know two people who got into this situation and have been suing him for over a year.’

Similar posts in an online site allege a similar demand for unpaid rent.

Mikhail Ieremenko warned: ‘This is not the first time. My brother rented a flat from them, and after eviction they did not return the deposit.

‘They instead demanded a year’s rent. It was like he had lived there for a year and did not pay for a year.’

MailOnline was told legal action is pending in the courts in war-torn Ukraine.

The bungalow where the family of nine from Ukraine are currently living but are now facing eviction after getting legal note

Hanna, 69, was among the family and now also has to find a new home after the eviction notice despite her age

Accounts say Mr Hyryk (right) enjoyed a meteoric rise in the police in Kyiv region to acting chief of criminal investigations in his area in charge of combating organised crime, yet much about his career remains a mystery. One of Mr Hyryk’s former tenants has attempted to get a class action against him by starting a court case with six ex-tenants

The eviction notice the Hyryk Family received was from solicitors acting for the Malsters, who have declined to comment

One of Mr Hyryk’s former tenants has attempted to get a class action against him by starting a court case with six ex-tenants.

Matveychev – a blogger – gives a similar account of his dispute with Hyryk, which is ongoing in the courts but stalled due to the war.

He also paid his rent to a third party, he said.

Another former tenant who declined to be named said: ‘The whole story of this family is a soap opera.’

He added: ‘This man is seemingly a millionaire in Kyiv, so why the hell is Britain paying him state benefits?’

And another who spoke on condition of anonymity hit out: ‘Ukrainian men of his age are banned from leaving our country because of the war.

‘Yet here is Maxim Hyryk, aged 36, living in the UK when our male population is mobilised defending the motherland. How did this happen?

‘We have cases when dads with many children get their families out but stay here themselves to fight.

‘Maxim has money, leaves the country and says is a poor refugee. This isn’t right.’

Yet another former tenant of Mr Hyryk questioned why ‘he has not returned to Kyiv which is no longer under attack – as many people have done.’

Mr Hyrky denied all the allegations when they were put to him by MailOnline and initially said: ‘If you think I am millionaire would I be here? I have not left Ukraine since 2012.’

He then added: ‘Show me where you have found all this. It’s rubbish,’ before saying he was late for an appointment and couldn’t speak any further.

Later in a lengthy message to MailOnline he again denied the claims describing them as ‘nonsense’ but confirmed he was the manager for a large property portfolio in Ukraine.

He added: ‘Unfortunately there were also problematic clients, with whom we dealt with through the courts. And the fact that they are official debtors, they still write all sorts of nonsense and slander against me in the hope it can somehow help them.’

The family were given bungalow in Fareham, Hants, next door to their host neighbours but now have been told to move out

The family’s crowdfunded to try and get rent together and started a GoFundMe page

Olga boasted in a post on Russian social media network VK: ‘I was proposed to in Dubai, in the world’s tallest tower Burj Khalifa. Max, I love you’

Following appeals the family was offered new accommodation by a retired midwife ‘good samaritan’ who had moved to New Zealand but had an empty property in the UK

Their landlord in Hampshire is taking the family to court to evict them from his property

Addressing how he left Ukraine he said: ‘To leave Ukraine, it is enough to have three minor children and I am the father of five minor children,

‘As for a luxurious lifestyle, I have not been anywhere since 2012, and this is the first time my children have left Ukraine, they are fleeing the war.

‘We are not in England as beggars but because there is a war in our native country. I don’t understand what this has to do with the current case, this is all completely irrelevant.’

Following appeals the family was offered new accommodation by a retired midwife ‘good samaritan’ who had moved to New Zealand but had an empty property in the UK. Their landlord in Hampshire is taking the family to court to evict them from his property.

Mr Hyrky and his wife are said to have five children – twins Maxim and David, seven, twins Amiran and Tamerlan, two, and one-year-old daughter, Nikol.

His mother-in-law Anna, 70, reportedly suffered from dementia while Amiran has autism, with both requiring around-the-clock care.

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