Landlord Didn't Seek Tenant's Apartment in Good Faith

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenants, claiming that he needed their apartment for occupancy by his daughter and her family. Tenants claimed that landlord wasn't acting in good faith. At trial, landlord testified that his daughter had lived since 2006 on the eighth floor of the building with her two children. The daughter had asked landlord for a bigger apartment on a lower floor. But, in light of other factors, the court ruled against landlord. Landlord's managing agent had approached tenant in 2006 to propose deregulating tenant's apartment or else landlord might start a personal-use eviction proceeding. Landlord also had sent a lease nonrenewal notice to another, sixth-floor, tenant based on personal use, then rented the unit at market rate when tenant moved out. There also was some discrepancy between the testimony of landlord and his daughter as to when she asked to relocate. The daughter also hadn't seen the inside of tenant's apartment before landlord terminated the tenancy. Based on the totality of the circumstances, the court ruled that landlord hadn't sought to recover tenant's apartment in good faith.

Samra v. Messeca: Index No. 73676/2010, NYLJ No. 1202625414071 (Civ. Ct. NY; 10/7/13; Stoller, J)