Daughter Can't Get Tenant's Mitchell-Lama Apartment

HPD denied the application of Mitchell-Lama tenant's daughter for pass-on rights after tenant died in December 2003. The daughter appealed, claiming that HPD's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court ruled for the daughter after a hearing and ordered HPD to permit the daughter to remain. HPD appealed and won. The daughter moved into the apartment in September 2001, and claimed that she lived there continuously since then. Tenant didn't list the daughter on any income affidavits until one dated 2003 and filed in 2004. Mitchell-Lama regulations were amended as of Feb. 1, 2003, to state that if an occupant wasn't listed on relevant income affidavits, she simply can't get pass-on rights. The relevant residency period here was Dec. 30, 2001, to Dec. 30, 2003. Tenant didn't list the daughter on the 2002 income affidavit that was filed in April 2003, after the amended regulations took effect. As of Feb. 1, 2003, tenant and her daughter were on notice that she needed to be listed in order to be eligible for pass-on rights. Since she wasn't listed for the two years in question, she is ineligible to remain in the apartment.

Miney v. Donovan: NYLJ, 12/14/09, p. 28, col. 6 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; Covello, JP, Santucci, Chambers, Priscilla Hall, JJ)