Tenant's Niece Can't Get Rent-Controlled Apartment
LVT Number: #26319
Landlord sued to evict rent-controlled tenant’s niece after tenant died. The niece claimed succession rights. The court ruled for landlord after a trial, finding that the niece failed to prove either that she had lived with tenant for at least one year before tenant permanently vacated the apartment in 2010 or that she had a nontraditional family relationship with tenant based on the longevity of the relationship, sharing expenses, intermingling of finances, engaging in family-type activities, formalizing of legal obligations, or holding themselves out as family members.
The niece claimed that she lived together with tenant in the one-bedroom apartment between 2006 and 2010, but her testimony as to when she moved in was inconsistent. During the period of claimed co-occupancy, tenant suffered from dementia, impaired sight and hearing, incontinence, and was only occasionally alert. Tenant therefore wasn’t capable at that time of developing a nontraditional family relationship with the niece. At the same time, facts presented in court showed that the niece used tenant’s apartment and income for the niece’s own purposes, with little or no benefit to tenant. The niece lived with her husband in Massachusetts until their house was condemned in 2009 due to a Collyers condition. The niece and her husband moved into tenant’s apartment. Tenant had been admitted to a nursing home in 2000 after two strokes, where she remained through spring 2006. A nephew was tenant’s emergency contact person.
When landlord commenced a prior nonprimary residence proceeding against tenant in 2006, the niece arranged to pull tenant out of the nursing home in order to present a defense in that case. The niece refused home care for tenant before she was readmitted to the hospital in 2010. After that, the niece also refused to let tenant move back to the apartment. Tenant never returned to the apartment and died on April 1, 2012. The niece wasn’t a credible witness.
Manley Laundromat, Inc. v. Wu: 48 Misc.3d 1206(A), 2015 NY Slip Op 50988(U) (Civ. Ct. NY; 7/1/15; Kraus, J)