Income of Other Occupants Considered

(Decision submitted by Joel A. Mitofsky of the Manhattan law firm of Mitofsky & Shapiro, attorneys for the landlord.) The DHCR deregulated rent-stabilized apartment based on a monthly rent of over $2,000 and the fact that tenant's household income exceeded $250,000. Tenant appealed. Landlord had sought to evict tenant some years earlier. Landlord and tenant signed a court-ordered stipulation permitting tenant, his sister, and her husband to remain. The sister and husband agreed that they wouldn't claim right to tenancy. Tenant claimed that the stipulation barred consideration of the occupants' income in the DHCR deregulation proceeding. The court ruled against tenant. The stipulation had no such effect. Any right to remain in the apartment granted in the stipulation was subject to the provisions of the rent stabilization law. There was no right to occupy the apartment indefinitely. And the fact that tenant was elderly and disabled wasn't relevant.

Sussman v. DHCR: Index L&T No. 115603/96 (12/30/96) (Sup. Ct. NY; Davis, J) [1-page document]