Tenant Asked to Have Her Name Removed from Lease

Facts: Rent-stabilized tenant asked landlord to put her son's name on the lease so that he could get rent assistance from the Division of AIDS Services. Landlord agreed, and from that point on listed only tenant's son as the tenant on renewal leases and rent registration forms. A few years later, landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Landlord named only the son in the court papers. It didn't name the mother, even though she still lived in the apartment. The son didn't appear in court, and an eviction warrant was carried out. Tenant asked the court to be restored to possession. The court ruled for tenant. Tenant then asked the court to dismiss the nonpayment case because landlord didn't deliver the court papers to the mother, also. Court: Tenant wins. Landlord argued that the mother was no longer a tenant and didn't have to be named in the court petition. But the court ruled that the mother didn't waive her status as a rent-stabilized tenant and should have been named in the nonpayment case.

Sonaal Industries v. Santiago: NYLJ 1/19/00, p. 30, col. 4 (Civ. Ct. Kings; Rivera, J)