Tenant's Daughter Is Second Successor Tenant

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. Her father was the rent-stabilized tenant of her apartment until he died in 1995. Landlord claimed that there was no overcharge. After tenant, landlord gave tenant's wife a renewal lease. She was the first successor tenant. The wife later entered a nursing home and moved out of the apartment. Tenant's daughter had lived in the apartment with her parents since 1982. So landlord gave the daughter a vacancy lease as a second successor, charging vacancy and longevity increases. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that the original tenant's wife was his co-tenant and that tenant therefore was the first successor. Landlord was ordered to refund $5,000, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and won. There was no proof that the original tenant ever asked landlord to add his wife's name to a renewal lease while he was alive. So tenant's wife never became a co-tenant. When landlord gave her a renewal lease in her own name after tenant died, she became the first successor tenant. Tenant's daughter therefore was the second successor tenant and landlord offered her a vacancy lease with legal rent increases.

Zielinski: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. WF210028RO (8/21/08) [3-pg. doc.]