Court Upholds HPD Ruling that Mitchell-Lama Tenant Didn't Use Apartment as Primary Residence

Tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal of an HPD decision that tenant wasn't using her Mitchell-Lama apartment as her primary residence, and granting landlord a certificate of eviction. The court transferred the case to the Appellate Division, which ruled against tenant. The court found that substantial evidence supported HPD's decision. Landlord had asked tenant to submit state and federal tax returns covering eight successive years, but tenant provided only one state return that had been filed two years late. Tenant otherwise failed to submit tax returns for each year of residency to demonstrate that she occupied the apartment as her primary residence. At the hearing, landlord also showed that tenant sublet or allowed unauthorized occupancy of the apartment. Landlord also gave tenant fair notice of the charges so that tenant could prepare an adequate defense. HPD complied with its obligation to file with the court a certified transcript of its record of its proceedings and there were no statutory grounds to order HPD to file additional records. And discovery now sought by tenant was neither material nor necessary to assess whether HPD's ruling was supported by substantial evidence, affected by an error of law, or in violation of lawful procedure.

Matter of Irani v. City of New York: 2024 NY Slip Op 02756 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 5/16/24; Webber, JP, Kern, Shulman, Rodriguez, Pitt-Burke, JJ)