Tenant Can Be Evicted for Family Member's Criminal Activity

Landlord sued to evict Section 8 tenant for breach of her lease after tenant's family member was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering. The court ruled for landlord without a trial. Landlord claimed that the lease was terminated for the safety and well-being of other building residents. Tenant argued that the criminal activity in question occurred before her family member lived in the apartment. But the FBI had arrested the family member, whom they identified as a gang member, after he allegedly helped another gang member shoot a member of a rival gang in the parking lot of the apartment complex. The family member was arrested a year later in tenant's apartment. The court found that eviction was justified because the presence of tenant's family member caused a threat to the health, safety, and/or right to peaceful enjoyment of other building complex occupants. The court pointed to federal law that permitted public housing authorities to evict an entire household based on drug-related or certain other criminal activity by any household occupant, whether or not the tenant was involved.

Rockville Centre Housing Authority v. Whitfield: 978 NYS2d 656, 2014 NY Slip Op 24003 (Dist. Ct. Nassau; 1/7/14; Fairgrieve, J)