Tenant Worked and Lived in the Ukraine

(Decision submitted by Jeffrey Goldman of the law office of Judith M. Brener, Esq., attorney for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonprimary residence. Tenant claimed that he worked temporarily in the Ukraine but maintained his primary residence at the apartment. The court ruled for landlord without a trial, based on pretrial questioning and documents. Tenant was a dual citizen of the Ukraine and the U.S., and Chief Operating Officer of a real estate company that was developing a hotel resort in the Ukraine. Tenant claimed that he intended to return upon completion of the project in late 2012. But tenant was not in an itinerant occupation requiring travel, such as athletics, the military, or the arts. Tenant had a foreign address and was an officer of a foreign corporation engaged in activity abroad for at least five years so far. He didn't maintain an ongoing, substantial, physical nexus with the apartment for actual living purposes. Even if tenant had an honest intention to return to the apartment at some undetermined date in the future, this wasn't enough to retain the apartment.

235 West 22nd Street LLC v. Genshaft: Index No. 57799/2008 (Civ. Ct. NY; 1/3/12; Stoller, J)