Court Can Decide Occupant's Succession Claim in Nonprimary Residence Case Against Tenant

Mt. Vernon apartment occupant filed a lease violation complaint with the DHCR, claiming that landlord refused to recognize his succession rights to a rent-stabilized apartment. Landlord answered and reported that it had sent tenant a lease nonrenewal notice. Landlord also had started court proceedings seeking eviction of tenant based on nonprimary residence, and seeking eviction of the occupant. Landlord claimed that the occupant had a Connecticut address, that the tenant had a Florida address, and that neither of them had lived in the apartment for over 10 years. Landlord also said that the apartment was undergoing extensive repairs, had been vacated, and had been determined uninhabitable by the town DOB. The DRA dismissed the occupant's complaint on condition that landlord won the court action. The DRA noted that, if occupant won the court case, landlord would have to offer him a renewal lease. 

Occupant appealed and lost. He claimed that the court and the DHCR both had jurisdiction over the succession question and that the DHCR was the proper forum for his complaint. But ETPA Section 2504.4 permitted landlord to proceed in court based on a tenant's nonprimary residence. Since landlord had started the eviction proceeding, the court had primary jurisdiction over occupant's claim.

Simpson: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LQ910038RT (10/10/23)[2-pg. document]