Tenant's Daughter Can't Get Rent-Stabilized Apartment

Rent-stabilized tenant’s daughter claimed succession rights to tenant’s apartment after tenant died. The DHCR ruled against the daughter, who filed an Article 78 court appeal and lost. The court and appeals court ruled against the daughter. The DHCR rationally determined that the daughter didn’t live in the apartment as her primary residence for at least two years before tenant died. The daughter wasn’t named on the income affidavit filed at the building in 2010, provided inconsistent statements about her residency during the relevant period, and failed to adequately explain a Queens address, which belonged to the daughter’s husband and which was listed as the daughter’s address on her father’s death certificate in 2006. The daughter also didn’t submit other documentary proof such as certified tax returns showing occupancy at tenant’s apartment.

Chang v. DHCR: 39 N.Y.S.3d 793, 2016 N.Y. Slip Op. 07275 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 11/3/16; Friedman, JP, Renwick, Feinman, Gische, Kapnick, JJ)