Tenant Illegally Sublet Portion of Apartment

Landlord asked HPD for permission to evict Mitchell-Lama tenant. Landlord claimed that tenant was illegally subletting a portion of her apartment. Landlord showed that tenant had a series of roommates over several years and didn't list any roommate or indicate that she received rent payments from roommates on her annual income certification statement. Tenant claimed that landlord knew, or should have known, for some time that she had roommates who were paying to her a portion of the rent, because landlord accepted partial rent payments from DSS on tenant's behalf. After a hearing, HPD ruled against landlord on the condition that tenant's roommate move out of the apartment. Landlord appealed, claiming that by repeated subletting without landlord's consent and not listing her roommates or their income on her annual income certification, tenant had committed fraudulent or illegal acts. Under HPD rules, tenants aren't allowed to correct acts of fraud or illegality. The court ruled for landlord. HPD didn't follow its own rules when it decided that tenant could correct the illegal sublet. The court noted also that the amount of monthly rent paid by tenant's roommate, plus the amount paid by DSS, was greater than tenant's monthly rent.

In re Application of Waterside Redevelopment Co., L.P. v. HPD: NYLJ, 3/16/00, p. 27, col. 4 (App. Div.1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Rubin, Andrias, Buckley, Friedman, JJ)