Ask Sam: Can my ex’s grandson take over the lease for my rent-stabilized apartment?
Your grandson can live with you as a roommate.
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I live in a rent-stabilized apartment and have a grandson who wants to share it with me. He is not my biological grandson; he is a grandson by marriage, and I divorced his grandfather. Is he eligible to be on my lease and to eventually take over my place?
He can certainly live with you as a roommate, but it will be difficult for him to succeed you in the apartment, says Sam Himmelstein, an attorney at Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben & Joseph who represents residential and commercial tenants and tenant associations.
The Division of Homes and Community Renewal allows for certain family members to take over a relative’s rent-stabilized lease. Family members are defined as spouses, children and stepchildren, grandparents and grandchildren, and certain in-laws; see this DHCR fact sheet for more information.
“The problem here is that this person is not really a grandson,” Himmelstein says. “The family members entitled to succession include stepchildren, but not step-grandchildren.”
And the fact that you are divorced from his grandfather further weakens the relationship, at least from the perspective of succession laws.
A difficult case to argue
It may be possible to get around these restrictions if you can prove an emotionally and financially interdependent relationship: under DHCR guidelines, individuals not related by blood or marriage, but by these kinds of ties, can also succeed someone in a stabilized unit.
“But that's a hard argument to make in situations like this. It’s much easier for couples,” Himmelstein says. “But if you and your grandson set up some joint bank accounts and credit cards, and do things like attend family functions together, you might be able to make that argument when the time comes.”
To do this, you’ll want to look closely at succession laws and prepare documentation in advance.
You are entitled to a roommate
In the meantime, if your grandson wants to live with you as a roommate, he is legally entitled to do that.
“Most leases have a standard clause that an apartment can be occupied by the tenant and the tenant’s immediate family, but New York’s Roommate Law allows tenants to have roommates even if the lease says you can’t; the number of roommates depends on the number of tenants on the lease,” Himmelstein says.
New York City tenants who are named on their leases are allowed under the Roommate Law to take in a roommate (and the roommate’s dependent children). Under this law, your grandson can move in with you as long as you let your landlord know within 30 days.
“The main thing to be careful with is that you can only charge him half the rent,” Himmelstein says. “Rent-stabilized tenants can charge a roommate, at most, the rent divided by the total number of tenants and roommates living in the apartment.”
Related:
Ask Sam: How do I succeed a relative in a rent-stabilized apartment? (sponsored)
Ask Sam: How do I find out if my apartment should be rent-stabilized--and the landlord owes me money? (sponsored)
Read all our Ask a Renters Rights Lawyer columns here.
Sam Himmelstein, Esq. represents NYC tenants and tenant associations in disputes over evictions, rent increases, rental conversions, rent stabilization law, lease buyouts, and many other issues. He is a partner at Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben & Joseph in Manhattan. To submit a question for this column, click here. To ask about a legal consultation, email Sam or call (212) 349-3000.
