Tenant's Father Didn't Prove He Lived with Tenant

LVT Number: #20252

The father of a Mitchell-Lama tenant sought pass-on rights after tenant moved out of the apartment. HPD ruled against the father. The father appealed, claiming that HPD’s decision was unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled against tenant’s father. HPD reasonably found that tenant’s father had no rights to the apartment. The fact that tenant and her husband included tenant’s father in income affidavits submitted to HPD didn’t, by itself, entitle the father to pass-on rights.

The father of a Mitchell-Lama tenant sought pass-on rights after tenant moved out of the apartment. HPD ruled against the father. The father appealed, claiming that HPD’s decision was unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled against tenant’s father. HPD reasonably found that tenant’s father had no rights to the apartment. The fact that tenant and her husband included tenant’s father in income affidavits submitted to HPD didn’t, by itself, entitle the father to pass-on rights. HPD found inconsistencies in the father’s documents, and the father listed another apartment as his residence on tax returns during the period he claimed that he lived with tenant.

Hochhauser v. HPD: NYLJ, 2/19/08, p. 30, col. 2 (App. Div.1 Dept.; Andrias, JP, Friedman, Sweeny, Moskowitz, JJ)