Glambosky and Honig Score Major Victory for Landlord

Erez Glambosky and Jeremy Honig scored a major victory on behalf of a landlord in a summary non-primary holdover proceeding after a six-day bench trial in Civil Court, New York County.

The crux of the dispute was whether the current occupant of a rent-stabilized unit on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, who was the son of the tenants of record, was entitled to rent-stabilized rights in the unit by virtue of either succession, assignment or waiver.

During the lengthy and contentious trial, Glambosky and Honig were able to uncover decades of surreptitious conduct by the parents and son designed to shield the identity of the unit occupants from the landlord.  Glambosky and Honig demonstrated to the Court through documentary evidence and trial testimony that the mother continued to sign every renewal lease for the unit notwithstanding that she had moved out of the unit more than 12 years earlier, and that the son, who had the identical first and last name as his father, signed every renewal lease along with his mother.  Since the father and son had the same name, there was no way for the landlord to determine the true identity of the unit’s occupant.

The Court found that the landlord was entitled to recover possession of the unit as neither the parents nor the son had any rent stabilization rights.  Specifically, the court held that the parents and the son intentionally created an ambiguity as to the identity of the occupants of the unit.

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