Does Domestic Violence Excuse Tenant's Absence from Apartment?

October 23, 2015

LVT Number: #25591

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant’s brother after tenant surrendered possession of the apartment. Landlord claimed that the brother was a mere licensee whose permission to remain in the apartment had expired. The brother claimed that he had lived in the apartment with tenant since 2006 and had succession rights. Landlord claimed that tenant didn’t lived in the apartment with her brother during the two years before she permanently vacated.

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant’s brother after tenant surrendered possession of the apartment. Landlord claimed that the brother was a mere licensee whose permission to remain in the apartment had expired. The brother claimed that he had lived in the apartment with tenant since 2006 and had succession rights. Landlord claimed that tenant didn’t lived in the apartment with her brother during the two years before she permanently vacated. But the brother claimed that tenant had moved out of the apartment temporarily to Pennsylvania before permanently surrendering possession because she was evading an abuser against whom she had a restraining order. Tenant also said that she moved to Pennsylvania because her employer offered her a job there. A trial was needed to determine whether tenant’s absence from the apartment during the two-year window period for determining the brother’s succession rights is excusable.

 

 

 

ST-DIL LLC v. Kowalski: Index No. 56773/2014, NYLJ No. 1202737927248 (Civ. Ct. NY; 9/11/15; Stoller, J)

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