A woman who was rarely seen around her rent-stabilized East Village apartment and whose electric bills were as low as $20 to $30 per month can be evicted for non-primary residence, an Appellate Division, First Department, panel has ruled, affirming a housing court judge’s order.
The First Department had decided the case once before, ruling 3-2 in October 2012 that the eviction order must be reversed. The majority made its decision in part because it credited the woman’s testimony that she usually ate takeout food or cooked meals that did not require heat, like sushi (NYLJ, Oct. 3, 2012). In October 2013, however, the Court of Appeals found that the First Department had improperly rejected the housing court’s factual findings, and sent the case back.
