Madonna has filed a court case against the owners of her apartment building for not allowing her family into her home.
Madonna
The 58-year-old singer is reportedly suing One West 64th Street for enforcing strict rules, which forbid her from allowing people including her children Lourdes, 19, Rocco, 16, Mercy, 10, and David, 11, as well as her staff, into a second unit she owns in the block and staying when she is not there.
The 'Music' hitmaker has insisted the owners knew Madonna's status and lifestyle and did not object to letting others stay when she first moved into the property 12 years ago, four years before she bought the second apartment.
In Manhattan Court Papers, which have been obtained by the New York Post newspaper, the 'Material Girl' hitmaker said: "At that time, I was, and still am, a world-known performing artist.
"At that time, One West knew or should have known that I travelled extensively and owned other residences.'
"[The building] is a place I call home. It is there that I have my cherished personal effects and property such as artwork, paintings, sculpture, special furniture and the like.''
Madonna's team of lawyers are staging a defense based on the roommate law, which gives the tenant the right to use her home for "immediate family, a roommate and the children of the roommate".
And the legal documentation argues One West "never" objected previously to people staying when she wasn't there, and insists it is an unenforceable rule.
The documents state: "Certainly such a requirement is ridiculous and impossible for almost any family to comply with, and certainly not someone with plaintiff's itinerant schedule.
"To be sure, One West knew the plaintiff's living, working, traveling lifestyle as a celebrated entertainer when she purchased the apartment; One West never objected."
Despite her extensive travelling, the 'Ray of Light' hitmaker maintains the apartment is her primary home.
She said: "I would like to have my children and a domestic employee reside . . . with me."
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