Landlord Can Evict Tenant Who Was Given Invalid Lease

A few months after a foreclosure judgment was entered against a building owner in 2008, he rented an apartment to a Section 8 tenant. Landlord bought the building in 2009, and sued to evict prior owner and tenant in 2010. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case. She claimed that landlord failed to assume her Section 8 tenancy in violation of Public Law 111-22, Section 703. The court ruled against tenant and found that landlord could proceed with eviction. The prior owner had no right to rent apartment to tenant after foreclosure. Tenant was never a bona fide tenant because she didn’t move in until almost a year after the foreclosure, and she never paid any rent. Landlord also had filed a lis pendens nearly a year before tenant signed the lease, so this put tenant on notice of the foreclosure. In any event, tenant’s lease had expired before landlord started the eviction proceeding.

Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Tulloch: NYLJ, 5/12/10, p. 29, col. 3 (Dist. Ct. Nassau; Fairgrieve, J)