2018 NY Slip Op 51958

Citation: 2018 NY Slip Op 51958
Jurisdiction: New York (state)
Source verification: cross_accepted_sealed
Original Source: https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2018/2018_51958.htm ↗

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Apartment only if Blumenfeld concurrently resides there, or if Dogwood LLC seeks and obtains
Stable's permission, pursuant to the occupancy agreement, for Blumenfeld's sons to sublet the
Apartment. Accordingly, plaintiffs' claim that the two provisions conflict is without merit.

This Court also finds that the amended 2017 complaint's allegation, that the occupancy
agreement conflicts with and violates Real Property Law § 235-f, commonly known as the
"Roommate Law," lacks merit. The Roommate Law was enacted by the legislature to recognize
that "severe disruption of the rental housing market [wa]s threatened as a result of the present
state of the law." See McKinney's Session Law, 1983, ch. 403, § 1, Legislative
findings. In particular, Real Property Law § 235-f was promulgated to overcome case law
which upheld, as nondiscriminatory, a lease clause restricting occupancy of an apartment to the
tenant and members of the tenant's immediate family. See e.g. Hudson View Props. v
Weiss, 59 NY2d 733, 735-736 (1983). Consequently, Real Property Law § 235-f was
enacted to provide protection against hardship and dislocation and to afford security to the
thousands of households where unrelated persons were living together for financial reasons,
companionship, and safety, and whose living arrangements were potentially in jeopardy.
See McKinney's Session Law, 1983, ch. 403, § 1, Legislative findings.

Real Property Law § 235-f (2) renders it unlawful for a landlord of residential premises
to restrict occupancy, "by express lease terms or otherwise, to a tenant or tenants or to such
tenants and immediate family." Such a lease restriction is "unenforceable as against public
policy." Id. Any rental agreement or lease for residential property must be construed to