Tenant's Granddaughter Proves Succession Rights to Apartment

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant's granddaughter after tenant died. The trial court ruled against landlord, finding that the granddaughter proved succession rights.

Landlord appealed and lost. The trial court fairly interpreted the evidence presented. Although certain documents linked the granddaughter to another residence, including a 2015 lease she signed with three friends for another apartment, the trial court accepted the granddaughter's explanation of this discrepancy. There also was no abuse of the trial court's discretion in declining to draw a negative inference from the granddaughter's failure to call any of those friends as witnesses in this case. Otherwise, the granddaughter presented voter registration, DMV records, and bank statements supporting the finding that she lived with tenant in the apartment since May 2013, at least two years before tenant died.

Hecsomar Realty Corp. v. Camarena: Index No. 570065/20, 2020 NY Slip Op 50507(U)(App. T. 1 Dept.; 5/4/20; Cooper, JP, Edmead, Torres, JJ)