Tenant Wants Grandsons Evicted

NYCHA tenant sued to evict her adult twin grandsons from an apartment they all shared. The twins had lived in the apartment with tenant since she moved in, when they were 11 years old. Tenant now wished to move to a lower floor in the building, for health reasons, and didn't want her grandsons living with her. The grandsons argued that tenant couldn't evict them, because they also were tenants. The court ruled for tenant in part. The grandsons weren't tenants; they were household occupants. Only tenant and her deceased husband were tenants of record. But there was no landlord-tenant relationship between tenant and her grandsons. So tenant couldn't evict them through housing court. The court transferred the case to a nonhousing part of civil court so tenant could proceed with her case.

Williams v. Williams: NYLJ, 8/2/06, p. 22, col. 1 (Civ. Ct. NY; Martino, J)