Landlord Can't Evict Public Housing Tenant Arrested for Drugs

Facts: Police entered tenants' apartment with a search warrant and found enough marijuana for eight cigarettes hidden behind the bed of tenants' 20-year-old son. HUD-HPD sent landlord a letter stating that it could start an eviction case because tenants' son was arrested for criminal drug activity. Landlord sued to evict tenants based on a lease violation. The lease allowed eviction for drug-related criminal activity at or near the apartment. At the trial, tenants testified that they didn't know about the marijuana. Tenants' son was charged with a violation, not a misdemeanor or felony, for the marijuana possession. He also got a violation for disorderly conduct. Also, tenants' son had moved out of the apartment. Court: Landlord loses. Tenants' lease was governed by federal HUD rules, which are stricter than New York state rules concerning criminal activity lease violations. But tenants' son didn't commit any crime. Under New York penal law, only misdemeanors or felonies are crimes. It would also be very unfair to evict elderly tenants who had lived in the apartment for 27 years on this basis, especially as tenants' son had moved out of the apartment.

Howard Ave. Assocs. v. Rojas: NYLJ, 4/5/02, p. 20, col. 6 (Civ. Ct. Kings; Lebovits, J)