Tenant Spent Most Days at Mother’s Yonkers Home

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant from a studio apartment based on nonprimary residence. Landlord claimed that tenant had abandoned the apartment and lived primarily in Yonkers with her mother. The court ruled against landlord after a trial. Landlord and its witnesses testified that tenant was rarely seen at the apartment between 2010 and 2012, and pointed out that tenant failed to produce credit card receipts showing business with local merchants. Nearly all of tenant’s bank and credit card transactions took place in White Plains, Scarsdale, and Yonkers. At the time of trial, tenant also hadn’t submitted income tax returns for the years 2009 through 2013. Tenant was in the process of getting divorced and her husband, also a tenant, didn’t appear in the case. Tenant testified that she had lived in the apartment for 20 years, that her father died in in Yonkers in 2000, that she then assisted her mother with her disabled brother’s care. She also spent more time caring for her elderly mother in recent years and traveled as a self-employed advertising producer. Tenant claimed that she drove back and forth to Yonkers regularly, often returning to the city late at night and leaving early the next day. The court found that landlord didn’t rebut tenant’s claim that she came home to the apartment most nights and that her family activity in Yonkers was her “day job.”

BRG 321 LLC v. Hirschorn: Index No. 84327/12, NYLJ No. 1202736030471 (Civ. Ct. NY; 6/18/15; Saxe, J)