Landlord Can Seek Back Rent from Rent-Controlled Successor Tenant

In a prior eviction proceeding, the trial court granted succession rights to tenant's granddaughter who had lived for at least two years with rent-controlled tenant before tenant's death in December 2012. In 2019, landlord sued to evict the tenant granddaughter for nonpayment of rent back to 2015. The court ruled that no claim for rent owed prior to Nov. 4, 2018, could go forth because there was no landlord-tenant relationship before that date. Landlord appealed, and the appeals court reinstated the claim. A rent-controlled tenancy is statutory in nature and exists by operation of law. The granddaughter became the statutory tenant upon the 2012 death of tenant grandmother, and her obligation to pay rent commenced at that time. So a nonpayment proceeding could be maintained against tenant. Landlord's litigation of the prior eviction proceeding until November 2018 didn't preclude it from recovering rent due before that date. Tenant's succession related back to the 2012 death of tenant's grandmother. Landlord also wasn't barred from seeking pre-November 2018 rent based on its prior position that the new tenant was a mere licensee. That claim had been unsuccessful. 

170 Spring St. LLC v. Doe: Index No. 570164/22, 2022 NY Slip Op. 51031(U)(App. T. 1 Dept.; 10/24/22; Hagler, JP, Tisch, JJ)