Tenant's Son and Daughter-in-Law Can't Get Apartment

(Decision submitted by David Berger of the Brooklyn law firm of Tenenbaum Berger & Shivers LLP, attorneys for the landlord.)

Landlord sued to evict remaining occupants of a rent-stabilized apartment after tenant vacated. The occupants claimed they were family members entitled to succession rights. The court ruled for landlord after documents were produced during pretrial question, finding no need for a trial. It was undisputed that tenant moved out in 2009. Her son and daughter-in-law provided a 2009 marriage certificate; the son's birth certificate; redacted face pages of federal tax returns for 2007, 2008, and 2010; W-2 forms for 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009; redacted NY State income tax returns for 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010; IRS correspondence dated 2008, 2009, and 2010; and the son's NY State driver's license dated Feb. 11, 2008. The marriage certificate and 2008 tax return listed an address other than tenant's apartment as the couple's address. Their attempt to explain away the discrepancy wasn't credible. The son and daughter-in-law failed to present sufficient documents tying them to the apartment. Notably absent were 2009 tax returns and other records that would show that they lived in the apartment with tenant during 2008 and 2009. The documentation in fact suggested that they had another address during this time.

Mavis Realty LLC v. Miller: Index No. 74267/2011 (Civ. Ct. Queens; 2/15/13; Katz, J) [4-pg. doc.]