Landlord Can't Remove Ex-Spouse's Name from Lease after Tenants' Divorce

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR of lease violations. She claimed that landlord refused to give her a corrected renewal lease to include her DRIE rent exemption, failed to include her security deposit on the renewal lease, and refused to add her spouse and daughter on her renewal lease as requested. The DRA ruled that the issue of adding tenant's spouse had been resolved, that landlord wasn't obliged to add a child to the lease, and that, as to the issues of rent and security deposit, those issues would be addressed in tenant's pending overcharge complaint.

The tenant appealed and lost. Tenant argued that she was now divorced and that the DRA should've removed her husband's name from the lease and added her now-adult daughter. The DHCR noted that the fact that tenant was now divorced didn't automatically mean that the spouse's name had to be removed from the lease. Unless a court judgment of divorce ordered such, landlord wasn't obligated to remove the spouse from the lease without the spouse's consent. And landlord wasn't required to add the daughter as a party to tenant's lease.

McGinley: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LV210026RT (1/8/24)[2-pg. document]