Succession rights for rent-stabilized apartments

Yes, you can often keep a parent’s or other relative’s rent-stabilized apartment: a family member who lived there with the tenant as their primary residence for the two years right before the tenant died or permanently moved out has the right to a renewal lease in their own name. If you are 62 or older or have a disability, the required period is one year.

Check your situation

Answer a few questions to see how the rules apply to you. This is a guide to the rules in the Rent Stabilization Code and HCR Fact Sheet #30, not a legal decision.

Who counts as a family member

HCR Fact Sheet #30 lists these relationships: spouse, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law and daughter-in-law.

It also includes any other person who lived with the tenant as a primary resident and can prove emotional and financial commitment and interdependence. A partner who was never married to the tenant can qualify this way. HCR weighs factors like these:

No single factor decides it, and HCR says evidence of a sexual relationship is never required or considered.

The residency requirement

You must have lived in the apartment with the tenant as your primary residence for:

• Two years immediately before the tenant died or permanently left, or
• One year if you are a senior citizen (62 or older) or a person with a disability, or
• The whole time since the tenancy or your relationship began, if that was shorter.

The tenant “permanently vacates” when they permanently stop living there. If the tenant kept paying rent or kept signing renewals after moving out, that alone does not defeat your claim.

One limit: the Rent Stabilization Code makes succession subject to any income-based occupancy rules that apply to the apartment under federal, state or local law or a government program. If the unit is income-restricted (for example, a lottery or tax-benefit affordable unit), check with the supervising agency as well.

Absences that don’t break the clock

Your residency period is not considered interrupted while you were temporarily away because you were:

• on active military duty;
• a full-time student;
• away under a court order not involving the lease or an eviction case;
• working at a job that required temporary relocation;
• in the hospital for medical treatment; or
• away for another reason DHCR accepts on application.

What “primary residence” means

The Rent Stabilization Code looks at evidence like this. Each of the following points against the apartment being your primary residence, though no single one decides it:

• listing a different address on your tax returns, vehicle registration, driver’s license or other public documents;
• voting from another address;
• living in the apartment fewer than 183 days in the most recent calendar year (with exceptions for the temporary absences above); and
• subletting the apartment.

Your evidence checklist

Gather these for the full required period. Your progress is saved in this browser.

What happens after you claim

If the owner accepts your claim, you are named as the tenant on the renewal lease. As with any renewal, you have 60 days to accept the offer. See rent-stabilized renewal leases for the deadlines and the 2026 rent guidelines.

If the owner rejects it, they may start a case in Housing Court to recover the apartment, and you would present your evidence there. Do not move out or ignore court papers. Many NYC tenants facing eviction qualify for a free lawyer through Right to Counsel, and this Housing Court guide explains what to expect.

Rent-controlled apartments

Rent-controlled apartments have the same basic rule: a family member who lived there for two years (one year for seniors and people with disabilities) immediately before the tenant died or left is protected from eviction and can stay. Succession matters a lot here: the 2023 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey counted 24,020 rent-controlled apartments, and 9,970 of them were occupied by successors who moved in on or after July 1, 1971. See rent control vs rent stabilization.

Not sure the apartment is stabilized? Try the rent-stabilized checker and request the rent history from HCR. This guide is general information, not legal advice.