NYCHA Tenant's Wife Can't Succeed to Apartment

NYCHA tenant's wife claimed succession rights after tenant died. NYCHA ruled against the wife after a hearing. She appealed the decision, claiming that it was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court ruled against her. She moved into tenant's apartment in 1991 after their wedding, but she kept her own public housing unit in Brooklyn. Tenant and his wife didn't notify NYCHA or ask permission to add the wife to the lease. Tenant died in 2002, and the wife gave up the Brooklyn apartment in 2003. In 2009, the wife sought succession rights and claimed that landlord's managing agent knew she lived there. NYCHA's decision that there was insufficient notice to the agency of the wife's occupancy was rational.

Adler v. NYCHA: Index No. 111817/10, NYLJ No. 1202489592510 (Sup. Ct. NY; Singh, J)