Prior Court Stipulation that Deemed Tenants Rent Stabilized Permitted Pass-on Rights for Daughter

(Decision submitted by David Hershey-Webb, of the Manhattan law firm of Himmelstein McConnell Gribben & Joseph LLP, attorneys for the tenant.)

Prior landlord sued to evict tenants and, in 1992, signed a court stipulation giving tenants a rent-stabilized lease and making them "deemed rent stabilized tenants, entitled to all rights of the Rent Stabilization Law, including renewal leases." New landlord sued tenants in 2004, claiming that he wasn't bound by the lease renewal provision of the 1992 stipulation. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord, finding in 2007 that landlord was bound by that provision in the 1992 stipulation. Tenants later died, and landlord sued to evict tenants' daughter and other occupants. In response, the daughter claimed succession rights. The court denied landlord's motion to dismiss the daughter's defense.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that the 1992 stipulation didn't include succession rights and, if it did, that violated the Rule Against Perpetuities. But the Second Department Appeals Court had already ruled in 2007 that the 1992 stipulation conferred "by way of an express contract referring to the rent stabilization law, the same rights as those afforded tenants protected by the rent stabilization law."  Those rights included succession rights for qualified family members. And nothing in the 1992 stipulation excluded succession rights from that agreement. The court also found that the Rule Against Perpetuities didn't apply to renewal leases.

Carrano v. Colon: Index No. LT-302102-23, App. T. Docket No. 2023-1325 KC (App. T. 2 Dept.; 1/17/25; Toussaint, PJ, Mundy, Quinones, JJ)[4-pg. document]