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

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant based on nonprimary residence. Tenant’s sister appeared and claimed succession rights. She claimed that she moved into the apartment when tenant did in 1979. Landlord showed that tenant had moved into a house in 1989 but had continued to pay rent and sign renewal leases for the apartment until 2011 when landlord sent a nonrenewal notice. The court ruled  against landlord, finding that because the sister had lived with tenant since the inception of the tenancy, it didn’t matter whether she had lived together with tenant for two years before tenant permanently vacated.

Landlord appealed and won. The lower court incorrectly applied the law. Under the current Rent Stabilization Code, a family member’s residing in the apartment from the inception of the tenancy is relevant only when the tenancy has existed for less than the required period for co-occupancy. Rent Stabilization Code Section 2523.5(b)(1) required the sister to prove that she lived with tenant in the apartment as her primary residence for at least two years before tenant permanently vacated the apartment. Since tenant continued to sign renewal leases, she hadn’t permanently vacated the apartment before her last renewal lease expired in 2011.

M & B Lincoln Realty Corp. v. Thompson: 49 Misc.3d 154(A), 2015 NY Slip Op 51796(U) (App. T. 2 Dept.; 12/8/15; Pesce, PJ, Weston, Aliotta, JJ)