Additional Occupant Was Tenant's Family Member

Landlord asked the DHCR to increase rent-controlled tenant's maximum rent based on two additional occupants. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed, claiming that the two occupants, brother and sister, had lived with her in the apartment since 2004. She also claimed that they had lived together as a family since the 1980s when the family of the brother and sister also lived in the building. Tenant said that they took care of her and that she considered them grandchildren.
The DHCR ruled for tenant in part. Tenant had submitted to the DRA a detailed statement of her long-term family-type relationship with her roommates. There were notes and cards to tenant since the 1980s, as well as photographs showing them together at family and holiday celebrations. The sister moved in with tenant as a caregiver in 2000, was the sole beneficiary in tenant's will, and had a power of attorney. The brother moved in with tenant in 2004. He was a full-time college student, had no formalized legal relationship with tenant, and no intermingled finances. Tenant showed that the sister, but not the brother, was a family member under rent-control regulations. Landlord could increase tenant's rent by 10 percent for the brother.

Paige: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XA420035RT (4/3/09) [3-pg. doc.]