Tenant's Son Gets Rent-Controlled Apartment

Facts: Landlord sued to evict rent-controlled tenant's son after tenant died. Tenant's son claimed he'd lived continuously in the apartment with tenant since 1969. At the trial, tenant's son showed gas, electric, and telephone bills for services to the apartment in his name, along with a driver's license, a voter registration, and a bank account listing the apartment as his address. Two witnesses who were friends of tenant's son testified that they had visited him at the apartment on several occasions. Landlord showed that tenant's son was married, that his wife had lived in Brooklyn for 20 years and that tenant's son cosigned a mortgage agreement for the house in Brooklyn. Tenant's son claimed he'd been married only briefly, never gotten divorced for religious reasons, and he was merely a guarantor on the mortgage. Landlord also showed that tenant didn't list her son as an apartment occupant in her SCRIE application. Court: Landlord loses. Tenant's son's bills, bank accounts, and personal activities were directly connected to tenant's apartment for well over two years. The testimonies of tenant's son and his witnesses were believable. The fact that tenant didn't disclose her son as an apartment occupant on her SCRIE application didn't prove that he didn't live at the apartment.

I.N. Ovington Corp. v. Surdo: NYLJ, p. 31, col. 4 (7/8/98) (Civ. Ct. NY; Wendt, J)