Opinion 92-12

January 30, 1992

Digest:         A newly elected full-time judge may continue to receive rents from small rental properties in which the judge has an ownership interest.

Rule:            22 NYCRR 100.5(c)(2).

Opinion:

         A newly elected full-time judge inquires about the propriety of the judge's ownership of and receipt of rents from two small properties. One three-family rental property is managed by one of the tenants, who collects the rents, and the other property is a small apartment building where the judge resides, and where the judge's spouse manages the rental of the other apartment in the building.

         In Opinion 90-101, this Committee held that a judge's ownership and management of a small rental property would not violate section 100.5(c)(2) of the Rules of the Chief Administrator, which provides that no full-time judge "shall be a managing or active participant in any form of business enterprise organized for profit .... "

         The inquiring judge's involvement here is even more minimal than was the case in the prior inquiry, since the judge is not personally involved in the management of the properties. Accordingly, the judge may continue to own and receive rents from the properties.