Rent-Controlled Tenant's Children Get Succession Rights

Landlord sued to evict rent-controlled tenant's adult children after tenant surrendered possession of the apartment in October 2015. The children claimed succession rights. The court ruled for tenant's children and dismissed the case. The daughter showed that she had lived in the apartment her entire life except during the years she was away at college. The son lived in the apartment from the time he was born until 2000, then moved back into the apartment in 2012. The fact that tenant, their mother, entered a nursing home in 2010 and never returned to the apartment, didn't by itself prove that tenant no longer occupied the apartment as her primary residence. The court found that both children occupied the apartment as their primary residence with tenant for at least two years before tenant permanently vacated in October 2015. 

90 Elizabeth Apt. LLC v. Eng: 2017 NY Slip Op 27372, 2017 WL 5474246 (Civ. Ct. NY; 11/2/17; Stoller, J)