ROOMMATES

I am living in a rent stabilized apartment.  It is getting hard for me to manage rent and bills on my own.  I am thinking of getting a roommate.  Can I have one?

                                                                G.B., Astoria

A tenant is entitled to share his or her apartment with immediate family members, one additional unrelated occupant, and those occupants' dependent children.  Any lease provision which forbids roommates or otherwise restricts occupancy in any way that is inconsistent with current legal maximum occupancy restrictions is illegal and unenforceable.  Your landlord cannot make you waive your rights under the roommate law, or as a rent stabilized tenant, increase the rent because you have a roommate.  However rent controlled tenants can sometimes be ordered by the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal to pay a rent increase for "increased occupancy" when the total number of people living in the unit increases.

If only one tenant has signed the lease, that tenant is entitled to one roommate who is not a member of the tenant's immediate family.  When the lease names more than one tenant (ie., Mrs. Susan Newman and Mr. Jack Newman or Bob Smith and Carl Jones, etc.) these tenants are not entitled to have an additional occupant who is unrelated.  However, these tenants may still share the apartment with their immediate family.  If one of the tenants named in the lease moves out, that tenant may be replaced with another occupant who is unrelated and that occupant's dependent children.

Tenants must inform their landlords of the name of any new occupant within 30 days after that person has moved into the apartment, or within 30 days of the landlord's request for this information. Tenants also have the right to replace a departing roommate with a new one.  If the prime tenant (name on lease) moves out or dies, the roommate has no right to remain in the apartment without the landlord's express consent.  However, recent legislation has been passed allowing a roommate who has been a "life partner" to the prime tenant to inherit a rent stabilized or rent controlled apartment under certain circumstances.

On December 20, 2000, the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) issued revised Rent Stabilization Codes.  The Real Property Law Section 2525-7 of the Real Property Law which allows tenants to share their apartments with unrelated roommates was changed. The revised code now bars a tenant from charging a roommate more than his proportionate share of the rent.  For example, the lease states John Smith as the prime tenant whose rent is $800.  Mr. Smith cannot charge his roommate more than $400 for rent.

The revised code also says that a tenant who violates this provision will face eviction for violating the revised code.  Recently a case was brought into court where the prime tenant was evicted due to the roommate being charged more than the proportionate share of the rent.  The roommate was also evicted.