Rent-Controlled Tenant's Son Can't Get Apartment

Facts: Rent-controlled tenant's son applied for pass-on rights to tenant's apartment. He had moved into the apartment with his parents in 1947 and moved out when he got married in the 1960s. He claimed he moved back in with tenant when he got divorced and lived there with her for at least two years before she died in 1986. Landlord claimed that tenant's son didn't live with tenant for the required two-year period, that tenant herself was in a nursing home for a long time before she died, that tenant's son had remarried during this time and lived in Florida, and that he had a post office box and received no mail at the apartment. But landlord submitted no proof of her claims. The DRA also asked tenant to submit proof of his residency in the apartment, but tenant didn't do so. The DRA ruled against tenant, since he didn't prove that he lived in the apartment as his primary residence for two years before tenant died. Tenant's son appealed. The DHCR ruled against him and he appealed again. Court: Tenant's son loses. Despite the DHCR's request, tenant's son didn't submit sufficient proof of his claim. He didn't even submit a sworn statement that he had lived with tenant in the apartment as his primary residence for the two-year period in question. Voting records submitted by tenant's son didn't show that he voted from the apartment during the time in question. He didn't submit any utility bills, and the phone records he submitted showed only that he had had service at the apartment since 1986.

Campbell v. DHCR: NYLJ, p. 30, col. 2 (7/14/99) (Sup. Ct. Queens; Berke, J)