NYCHA Must Reconsider Daughter's Succession Claim

Landlord NYCHA tenant's daughter claimed succession rights to tenant's apartment after tenant died in 2013. NYCHA ruled against the daughter after a hearing, and the daughter filed an Article 78 court appeal. The daughter claimed that NYCHA's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court agreed and reopened the case. The court ordered NYCHA to have a hearing officer consider whether the daughter was entitled to succession rights based on her claim that she lived in the apartment with NYCHA's consent. The daughter had moved into the apartment with tenant in 1976, lived there until she moved out in 1989, moved back in from 2006 until 2008, then moved back in again in 2010 to care full time for tenant. NYCHA never decided a request from tenant to add the daughter to the household in 2010. A family member may have succession rights to NYCHA housing if she lived in the building with the knowledge and implicit approval of the building's manager.

Porter v. NYCHA: Index No. 6049, 2019 NY Slip Op 01128 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 2/14/19; Friedman, JP [dissenting], Richter, Mazzarelli, Kapnick, Gesmer, JJ)