Rent-Stabilized Tenant's Daughter Gets Apartment

Rent-stabilized tenant's daughter complained in December 2017 that landlord refused to give her a renewal lease although she had succession rights to the apartment after tenant moved out. The daughter claimed that she moved in with tenant in September 1978, that tenant moved out in October 2017, and that they requested a renewal lease in the daughter's name at that time.

The DRA ruled against the daughter, who appealed and won. The DHCR found that she had submitted sufficient proof of her claim. The daughter submitted a divorce decree showing tenant was her father, a notarized letter from tenant to landlord stating in October 2017 that he had moved out of the apartment permanently, the daughter's 2012 driver's license, a 2015 vehicle registration, utility bills, bank records, voting records, and proof of rental payments established the daughter's occupancy in the apartment at least two years before tenant moved out. A March 2017 court stipulation ordering a lease in tenant's name didn't invalidate the vacatur letter that tenant sent landlord seven months later. The DHCR ordered landlord to send the daughter a renewal lease.

Bandele: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IO210002RT (9/18/20) [3-pg. doc.]