Illegal Sublet Case Involving Family Members Without Profiteering Dismissed

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenants and apartment occupants for an illegal sublet or assignment of the apartment without prior written consent by the landlord. Landlord claimed that the two tenants had moved out years ago and this came to landlord's attention when the apartment occupants attempted to sign their own names and return a renewal lease landlord had mailed to the tenants.

The occupants asked the court to dismiss the case. They claimed that they were not unlawful subtenants but were close family members of the tenants with extensive historical ties to the apartment. Occupants also claimed that landlord's termination notice was impermissibly vague because it failed to address the familial nature of their relationship to the tenants. The occupants were tenant's daughter and her husband, who claimed they moved in with the tenants in 1983.

The court ruled for occupants and dismissed the case. A rent-stabilized tenant who merely allows a close family member to live in her apartment for an extended period without engaging in profiteering has not engaged in an unauthorized sublet, even if the tenant lives elsewhere. Tenant's conduct would permit landlord to serve a 90-150 day termination notice for nonprimary residence rather than renew the tenant's lease. At that point, remaining family members may claim succession rights. The Second Department recently established a heightened notice requirement in cases where a landlord knows or has reason to know that the alleged subtenant is a close family member. In this case, landlord hadn't rebutted occupants' claims that they were family members who had lived in the unit since 1983. 

Royal Assoc. LLC v. Gomez: Index No. L&T302054/22, 2023 NY Slip Op 23187 (Civ. Ct. Queens; 5/30/23; Schiff, J)