Third Lenox Terrace Assoc. v. Edwards

In Third Lenox Terrace Assoc. v. Edwards (91 AD 3d 532 (2012), the rent-stabilized tenant and her sister both began living in the apartment in 1995. The tenant moved out in 1998, but continued to sign leases and pay rent through 2005. The Appellate Division held that the tenant can not be deemed to have permanently vacated the apartment at any time prior to the expiration of the last renewal, and therefore the sister could not establish co-occupancy for the two years prior to the permanent vacate date. The tenant of record had moved out the apartment seven years prior to commencement of a holdover summary eviction proceeding based on nonprimary residence. But during those seven years she had continued to pay rent by money orders issued in her name and to sign renewal leases. The Appellate Division held that she had not permanently vacated until the expiration of the last lease that she had signed, not in 1998. As a result, the required two-year period of co-residency for succession was not 1996-1998, but 2003-2005. Since the tenant of record was concededly not residing in the apartment during that period, there was no period of co-residency and therefore no succession. (Id.) In Third Lenox Terrace Assoc. v. Edwards, 23 Misc 3d 126[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 50525[U] [App Term, 1st Dept [2009] the Appellate Term found it "disturbing" that the respondent and tenant "purposefully concealed" the fact that the tenant had not resided in the apartment for more than eight years (id.). Because the concealment of the tenant's vacatur resulted in prejudice to the landlord, the court held that the putative successor "must be deemed to have waived any succession claim" (id.).