Landlord Can't Evict Tenant Who Marries Senior Citizen After Case Begins

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant so that his daughter could live in the apartment. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case because landlord didn’t offer her a similar or better apartment, as required by Rent Stabilization Code Section 2524.4(a)(2). Landlord argued that the regulation didn’t apply here. While the code required landlord to offer the alternate housing if tenant or her spouse was 62 years of age or older, tenant wasn’t married when landlord started the case. The court in fact had denied tenant’s prior request to dismiss the case because she wasn’t married to her 62-year-old partner at the time. The court ruled for tenant. As other courts have ruled previously, the code is intended to apply if tenant or tenant’s spouse is a senior citizen before the case is started or if either becomes 62 while the case is pending. Tenant’s prior request didn’t bar her from making her new request to dismiss the case since the facts now were different. The court marked the case off calendar for five months to give landlord time to offer alternate housing to tenant. The case would be dismissed if landlord didn’t do so during that time.

Zunce v. Rodriguez: NYLJ, 4/22/09, p. 27, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. Kings; Scheckowitz, J)