Tenants Used Second Apartment to Store Books

Facts: Rent-controlled tenants, husband and wife, occupied two rent-controlled apartments on the same floor. In 1976 the Office of Rent Control ruled that both apartments were tenants' primary residence. At that time, two of tenants' children slept in the second apartment. But now the children had grown up and moved out. Tenant husband, who was a writer and translator, used the second apartment to store 20,000 volumes of books and manuscripts. Landlord sued to evict tenants from second apartment, based on nonprimary residence. The trial court ruled against landlord and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed. Court: Landlord wins. Tenants didn't actively use the apartment as a dwelling. Tenant's husband claimed he read and wrote in the second apartment during the day. But pictures of the apartment also showed that the books took up most of the floor space. More importantly, landlord showed that tenants used virtually no electricity in the second apartment. Tenants can't keep rent-controlled apartment for convenience or for personal gain; this contributes to the shortage of available rental apartments.

Greenwich Village West Realty Co. v. Rosenthal: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 1 (10/6/95) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Parness, JP, Miller, J)