Landlord Illegally Evicted Tenant's Daughter After Tenant Died

Tenant's adult daughter sued landlord, claiming illegal eviction. She claimed that she contacted landlord in early September 2020 and informed landlord that tenant had died and she wanted to clear up any back rent issues. The daughter had lived with tenant for many years and it was her only home. She went away for a few days and when she returned, the apartment locks had been changed. Landlord refused to give her keys to the new locks, and continued to refuse to restore her to possession. Landlord claimed that the daughter advised its office that she was moving out and she'd been seen moving tenant's possessions out of the apartment. But landlord's employees admitted that the daughter neither submitted a surrender notice nor returned keys to landlord. And landlord never contacted the daughter before changing the locks. The daughter had submitted rent checks, which landlord rejected. The court ruled for tenant's daughter, who showed she had been in lawful possession of the apartment for more than 30 days when landlord locked her out. The court didn't believe landlord's claim that the daughter had abandoned the apartment. The daughter could pursue her claim that landlord removed her personal property from the apartment in a plenary action. The court made no determination as to whether she had succession rights.

York v. West Kingsbridge, LLC: Index No. L&T801300/20, 2020 NY Slip Op 51409(U)(Civ. Ct. Bronx; 11/9/20; Black, J)