Tenant in Nursing Home Less Than Three Years

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for illegal subletting. Tenant had been in a nursing home for two-and-a-half years after falling. Tenant had various other disabilities. Tenant's daughter and grandchildren had been staying in the apartment since tenant went into the nursing home. The court found no illegal sublet under these circumstances and ruled against landlord. The court also ruled that the apartment was still tenant's primary residence. The court pointed out that there were a lot of contradictory court decisions on this issue and compared tenant's situation to other cases. Here, tenant was only 72, her possessions were still in the apartment, she had been in the nursing home for less than three years, and had a good prospect of returning to the apartment in the near future. She had also stayed overnight in the apartment on a number of occasions in the past two years.

Schultz v. Gomez: NYLJ, p. 34, col. 4 (11/1/95) (Civ. Ct. Queens; Haber, J)