Tenant Repeatedly Let Banned Drug-Dealing Brother into Apartment

Tenant of NYCHA-operated building signed an agreement with landlord in 2014 after her brother was arrested at the apartment for unlawful possession, sale, or attempted sale of heroin. The agreement put tenant on probation for one year, and she agreed to permanently exclude her brother from the apartment. In 2017, NYCHA investigators discovered the brother inside the apartment after police found heroin in the apartment again. In late 2018, NYCHA issued an order placing tenant on another one-year probation and barring the brother permanently from the apartment. In March 2019, NYCHA investigators again discovered the brother in the apartment, which he had entered with a key provided by tenant. After a hearing and, finding that tenant had no plan to exclude her brother from the apartment, NYCHA terminated her tenancy. Tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal and lost. Contrary to tenant's argument, the tenancy termination did not "shock the conscience" in light of the history of this case. This wasn't a de minimis violation of tenant's probationary status and not disproportionate to the offense. 

Rivera v. Russ: Index No. 451317/2020, 2020 NY Slip Op 34032(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 12/8/20; Edmead, J)