Tenants Used Second Apartment for Storage, Not as Primary Residence

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenants based on nonprimary residence. The trial court ruled against landlord, who appealed and won. Video surveillance showed that tenants rarely entered the apartment. Video footage showed that one tenant entered the apartment for a total of 39 hours in a two-year period; the other tenant entered the apartment on 10 different days during the same two years. Neither tenant ever slept in the apartment. Landlord also showed that the apartment was used by tenants essentially for storage and convenience, there was little use of electricity in the apartment, tenants primarily resided in a second apartment that they rented in the same building, and the apartment had boxes piled up to six feet high with a narrow pathway through the pile, blocking the kitchen, bathroom, and window area. 

135 W. 13, LLC v. Stollerman: 2016 NY Slip Op. 26140, 2016 WL 1762319 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 5/3/16; Lowe III, PJ, Schoenfeld, Shulman, JJ)