No Proof Occupant Lived with Tenant for Two Years

August 31, 2007

LVT Number: #19823

Landlord sued to evict apartment occupant after rent-controlled tenant died. Occupant claimed succession rights to the apartment. The court ruled for landlord after a trial. Occupant appealed and lost. At trial, landlord's many witnesses testified that they knew the elderly tenant and had visited her apartment for social reasons or to make repairs during the two years before she died. None of them saw any indication that occupant, a young man, lived in the apartment with her.

Landlord sued to evict apartment occupant after rent-controlled tenant died. Occupant claimed succession rights to the apartment. The court ruled for landlord after a trial. Occupant appealed and lost. At trial, landlord's many witnesses testified that they knew the elderly tenant and had visited her apartment for social reasons or to make repairs during the two years before she died. None of them saw any indication that occupant, a young man, lived in the apartment with her. Occupant's documentary proof that the apartment was his address all predated the two-year period in question, and only showed he used the apartment as a mailing address.

Boltz v. Ascolesi: NYLJ, 8/14/07, p. 38, col. 3 (App. T. 2 Dept.; Weston Patterson, JP, Golia, Bleen, JJ)

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