Tenant's Son Only Stayed with Him on Temporary Basis

(Decision submitted by Timmie Erin Elsner of the Manhattan law firm of Penn & Proefriedt, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict rent-controlled tenant's son after tenant died in 1993. The son claimed pass-on rights. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant's son had lived in the apartment from 1958 to 1972 but then moved out. The son owned a home in New Jersey, where he lived with his wife and three children. When tenant became ill in 1990, his son began staying with tenant part-time. He stayed longer as tenant got sicker. The phone in the apartment has been in the son's name since the 1970s. But he didn't live there then and received only the phone bill and junk mail at tenant's apartment. Call-forwarding was added to the apartment phone after tenant died. The son received all his regular mail at the New Jersey address, paid taxes from that address, and took a New Jersey homestead exemption against New York taxes. The court ruled for landlord. While tenant might have spent substantial time at the apartment in recent years, he did so as an aide to his father on a temporary basis. He continued to keep his primary residence in New Jersey.

Willoughby Equities Associates v. Clark: L&T Index No. 85866/93 (9/13/95) (Civ. Ct. Kings; Birnbaum, J)