Nontraditional Family Member Gets Rent-Stabilized Apartment

An apartment occupant complained to the DHCR that landlord refused to give him a renewal lease after rent-stabilized tenant died. The occupant claimed that he had succession rights as a nontraditional family member. The DRA ruled for the occupant, and landlord appealed. The DHCR then ruled for landlord and denied succession rights to the occupant because he hadn't shown that his finances were intermingled with tenant's. The occupant then filed an Article 78 court appeal of the DHCR's decision. The court ruled for the occupant, and landlord appealed.

The appeals court ruled against landlord. The lower court correctly found, and the DHCR admitted, that the agency's final ruling had been affected by an error of law. The DHCR had denied succession rights solely based on the absence of intermingled finances, even though "no single factor shall be solely determinative" of succession rights. The absence of intermingled finances alone doesn't preclude a ruling that the occupant and the deceased tenant had a "family-like relationship." The appeals court also found there was no need to send the case back to the DHCR for reconsideration since the DHCR was merely seeking a second chance to reach a different determination on the merits of the case. 

Matter of Cozzolino v DHCR: Index No. 161368/20, App. No. 15724, Case No. 2021-03118, 2022 NY Slip Op 02491, NYLJ 4/18/22 p. 18, col. 3 App. Div. 1 Dept.; 4/14/22; Acosta, PJ, Kern, Gonzalez, Shulman, JJ)