Occupant Doesn't Prove Nontraditional Family Member Status

Landlord sued to evict apartment occupant after rent-controlled tenant died. Occupant claimed that he was a nontraditional family member entitled to succession rights. The trial court ruled for occupant and dismissed the case.

Landlord appealed and won. At one time occupant lived together in a close relationship with tenant. But that relationship waned and occupant moved out in the early 1990s. During the next 10 years, occupant lived elsewhere, had children with two different women, was married, and divorced. Occupant claimed that he rekindled his relationship with tenant and moved back into the apartment in 2002. But the exact nature of occupant's living arrangements during the two-year period before tenant's November 2010 death was unclear.

For many years, including the relevant two-year period, occupant rented another apartment in Manhattan, where he had admittedly had a daily presence and kept clothing and other personal items. The other address also was listed on occupant's banking statement, credit card statements, and Medicare and voter registration records. There also was no proof that occupant and tenant intermingled finances or formalized legal obligations. There were no joint bank or credit card accounts. Tenant paid all bills and rent for the apartment, and occupant had no idea how much money tenant had when she died. Tenant and occupant bought a co-op apartment together in 1988, but tenant's financial investment in that unit was modest and occupant kept all the rental income from that unit.

WSC Riverside Drive Owners LLC v. Williams: 2013 NY Slip Op 23431, 2013 WL 6638443 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 12/17/13; Torres, JP, Schoenfeld, Shulman, JJ)