Judge Marc Finkelstein
In this licensee holdover action involving a rent stabilized apartment, the petition denominated the tenants of record as "former tenants," and conclusorily asserted they vacated and abandoned possession of the premises, thus there was no lease in effect. Yet, the court found despite Ronald and Carolyn Kaplan being tenants of record, neither of them were named in this proceeding, nor did landlord previously obtain or seek legal possession from them. Instead, the petition was brought solely against respondents claiming they were licensees whose license to occupy the premises was no longer valid. Respondents cross-moved to dismiss the petition for failure to name and serve a necessary party—the tenants of record. The court agreed finding the Kaplans were necessary parties to any action seeking possession of their rent stabilized apartment, and landlord could not directly seek to evict respondents, the alleged licensees, without first legally obtaining possession from the tenants of record. It ruled a child or licensee of the tenants of record had no right to surrender the tenants' of record rights to landlord without their explicit authorization, which landlord failed to show it obtained. Thus, the cross-motion to dismiss was granted.
