Daughter Can’t Get Succession Rights to Resident’s Unit

Facts: Three days prior to a resident’s death, her daughter sought the site manager’s permission to reside in her mother’s unit. The daughter stated that she resided in the unit since 2004 at the request of her mother, who was sick and required a liver transplant.

Several months later, in November 2010, the daughter met with the manager with regard to a “remaining family member” grievance, which was denied that same day. In a letter to the daughter, dated Nov. 16, 2010, the housing authority told her that it would review her claim and render a decision. The letter also stated that she could submit additional documentation to support her grievance. Thereafter, the district manager met with the daughter, reviewed her grievance, and ultimately upheld the site manager’s decision to deny her request.

The hearing officer found that, although the tenant sought to add her daughter to the household in January 2005, and received a permission form from the management office, the form was never returned to the housing authority. Also, the tenant’s “Affidavits of Income submitted to NYCHA between 2005 and 2010…[do] not list [daughter] as a person living in the [Subject A]partment. …On the Affidavits dated January 4, 2010 and January 21, 2009, tenant provides a specific other address for [daughter] and lists [daughter] as her emergency contact.”

The hearing officer issued a decision, denying her remaining family member grievance. The daughter appealed the housing authority’s decision in court.

Ruling: A New York trial court denied the daughter’s request.

Reasoning: The court ruled that there was no basis to overturn the agency’s decision because its final determination wasn’t arbitrary or capricious. According to the housing authority’s management manual, an occupant may succeed to the lease of a tenant of record, as a remaining family member, if certain conditions such as lawful entry and continuous occupancy are met. The continuous occupancy requirement is shown if the person claiming continuous occupancy is named on all affidavits of income from the time she lawfully enters the unit until all tenants/lessees move out of the unit or die. Here, the income affidavits don’t show the daughter as a person living in the unit. Thus, the final determination finding that the daughter isn’t entitled to succession rights, as she doesn’t meet the minimum requirements to succeed, is rational, and not arbitrary and capricious.

• Alonzo v. NYCHA, October 2013