Nontraditional Family Member Gets Rent-Stabilized Apartment

Landlord sued to evict 87-year-old apartment occupant as a licensee after rent-stabilized tenant died in 2015. Occupant claimed succession rights as a nontraditional family member. The court ruled for occupant after trial and dismissed the case. Occupant showed that he lived in the apartment with tenant for 12 years, after dating tenant for six years before that. Occupant had only one photograph of himself with tenant, and no proof of intermingling of finances or formalization of legal obligations. Still, while he remained married to another woman because she wouldn't grant him a divorce, he testified credibly that he and tenant shared a long, committed relationship and that tenant relied on him for household expenses and he cared for her when she became ill.

541 Union LLC v. Rivera: Index No. L&T46455/15, NYLJ No. 1202786329078 (Civ. Ct. Bronx; 5/1/17; Breier, J)