DHCR Already Decided Tenant's Son Had No Pass-On Rights

(Decision submitted by David M. Berger of the law firm of Tenenbaum & Berger LLP, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant's son after tenant died. The son claimed pass-on rights. He said that he had lived with tenant in the apartment for at least two years immediately before she died. Landlord asked the court to rule in its favor without a trial. Landlord presented a 2006 DHCR decision that denied the request of tenant's son for a renewal lease in his own name. Tenant's son claimed that landlord couldn't rely on the DHCR's decision because the issues were different and that the DHCR didn't give him a full opportunity to respond to landlord's answer to that complaint.

The court and appeals court ruled for landlord. The DHCR decision found that tenant's son didn't submit sufficient proof of pass-on rights to the apartment. Tenant's son didn't appeal that decision. The issue in the DHCR proceeding was the same as the issue in this case. Since the DHCR already ruled that tenant's son didn't have pass-on rights, he couldn't raise the issue again in the court proceeding to try to get a different result.

Griffin Units, LLC v. Walker: Index No. 2007-01775KC (3/31/09) (App. T. 2 Dept.; Weston Patterson, JP, Rios, Steinhardt (dissenting), JJ)