A Brooklyn tenant who was accused of forcing her landlord to live in her car by milking emergency COVID-19 rent rules insisted that she is no deadbeat.

“I know I owe her something. I’m willing to pay her,” Sharita Patterson, 33, told The Post on Wednesday.

Shawna Eccles, 30, the landlord of the humble Brooklyn home where Patterson lives, claims Patterson hasn’t paid her $20,000 in combined back rent and interest — and that she has had to live in her car.

Patterson, however, says that any money trouble between the pair is just a big misunderstanding.

“This is her place. It’s not like I want to live there for free, but she is not communicating with me,” Patterson said.

Patterson also shot down Eccles’ claims of homelessness.

“She is not homeless. She still lives in the house,” Patterson said of Eccles. “She uses the back entrance, and her other family members use the front door — the same door that I use.”

Patterson, a single mother of three, moved into the $2,100-per-month, two-bedroom apartment at Eccles’ two-story East 91st Street building in Canarsie on Aug. 1, 2019.

The tenant says the city Department of Social Services paid her rent for a year.

In mid-May last year, Eccles sent Patterson a notice telling her that her lease would not be renewed when it expired on July 31.

Ever since, Eccles has been trying and failing to evict Patterson, who has filled out a state “hardship declaration” form, claiming she’s been financially impacted by COVID-19 crisis and is unable to move.

Patterson has until at least May 1 before any New York housing court would consider a case against her, thanks to the state’s pandemic-inspired eviction moratorium and recently enacted housing regulations.

“If I offered to pay, how am I considered a deadbeat tenant?” Patterson asked. “It’s apparent [Eccles] just wants her property back. It’s not about the money.”

Patterson explained, “After the lease was up, she did not communicate with me at all. She would just say, ‘Speak to my lawyer.’”

“I think what she is doing is evil,” added Patterson, who says she worked as an officer with the city Administration for Children’s Services for a year before she resigned in March 2020.

Patterson claims she got another city job in law enforcement, but the hiring was put on “pause” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m receiving pandemic unemployment [benefits]. I would give [Eccles] whatever I can,” said Patterson. “I’m unable to move. How can I move with pandemic unemployment?”

Eccles says she thought she was close to a legal settlement with Patterson in December, and believing Patterson was about to vacate, she rented the home’s first floor to an elderly woman and moved out to temporarily live with friends.

Eccles has also claimed in court papers that Patterson bought a new car during the pandemic — a charge Patterson declares is also false.

“I did not buy a new car. It’s a 2017 Chevy Malibu. I bought in March 2020 — a week before the shutdown, and I wasn’t even responsible for paying my rent at that time. My rent was paid up until July,” Patterson said.

Patterson described the entire situation as “more than a nightmare.”

“After [Eccles] got $28,000 [from DSS] for the whole year, she tried to bully me to move so that she could move her family in,” Patterson claimed. “She wanted that lump sum of money.”

Eccles refused to comment when reached by The Post on Thursday. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.