Tenant's Ex-Wife Can't Get Mitchell Lama Cooperative Apartment
LVT Number: #31112
The ex-wife of a Co-op City shareholder tenant claimed succession rights to the tenant's Mitchell-Lama co-op apartment after she and tenant got divorced in 2012 and tenant moved out. The DHCR supervised the building under the Private Housing Finance Law (PHFL) and ruled against tenant's ex-wife, who then filed an Article 78 court appeal. The ex-wife was represented by an attorney who filed defective papers. The attorney didn't apply to amend the court petition until 15 months later. The DHCR, in turn, asked the court to dismiss the case as untimely and on the merits.
The court ruled for the DHCR. By law, the ex-wife had four months to file the Article 78 petition. CPLR Section 306-b gave a petitioner an additional 15 days to complete service of the Article 78 petition on the DHCR. The ex-wife's court papers were untimely. In addition, even if her papers were accepted by the court, the DHCR reasonably denied the ex-wife's succession claim. At the time she claimed succession, the petitioner was no longer tenant's wife. And she presented no facts that would give her succession rights to the apartment's proprietary lease as a non-family member.
Rivera v. Visnauskas: Index No. 159854/2018, 2020 NY Slip Op 33722(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 11/9/20; Edmead, J)