Son's Name Not on Certification Documents

Landlord sued to evict tenant's son after tenant died. The son claimed pass-on rights, claiming that he had lived in the apartment with tenant before she died. Tenant's apartment received a project-based Section 8 federal rent subsidy. Landlord pointed out that tenant didn't list her son on the 1997 recertification form, and so the son had no pass-on rights. In a prior court case, New York's highest court had ruled that if a tenant hadn't listed a family member's name on the recertification form, the family member couldn't claim pass-on rights. The court ruled against landlord on this issue. The prior court case involved regulations limited to tenant-based subsidies, not project-based subsidies. So the fact that tenant didn't list her son's name on the recertification document didn't prove whether or not he had pass-on rights. However, the court ultimately ruled for landlord because tenant's son didn't prove that he lived in the apartment with tenant for at least one year before her death.

Greene Avenue Assocs. v. Reape: NYLJ, p. 33, col. 4 (11/3/99) (Civ. Ct. Kings; Baily-Schiffman, J)