Granddaughter in College Primarily Resides with Grandmother

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant's granddaughter after tenant died in 2006. The granddaughter claimed pass-on rights, saying she primarily resided in the apartment for at least two years before tenant died. Landlord questioned this because the granddaughter was attending college upstate at the time, so the court permitted pretrial questioning. After producing various documents, granddaughter asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. Landlord argued that there were still questions of fact.
The court ruled for the granddaughter. She didn't claim to live in the apartment during high school. But after graduating high school in 2003, she attended college upstate between 2003 and 2007. During this time, she spent breaks from school at the apartment and filed income tax returns using the apartment as her address. Her driver's license, auto registration, and school records all listed the apartment as her address. She also presented records showing that tenant continued to live in the apartment during the two years before she died. Landlord didn't seek any further pretrial questioning of the granddaughter's parents or neighbors and had no facts or documents for the two-year period before tenant died that put the granddaughter's claim into question. So there was no need for a trial, and the case was dismissed.

ST Owner LP v. Doe: NYLJ, 9/23/09, p. 26, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. NY; Capella, J)