Opinion 92-33

March 16, 1992

Digest:         A full-time judge may rent his or her residence.

Rule:            22 NYCRR 100.5(c).

Opinion:

         A full-time judge inquires whether the judge may rent a one-family vacation home that the judge owns on a temporary basis, without violating the prohibition against engaging in business activities.

         The judge's collection of rent from a tenant of a one-family residence is not a business enterprise organized for profit, and, therefore, is not prohibited by section 100.5(c)(2) of the Rules of the Chief Administrator. The words "financial and business dealings," [section 100.5(c)(1)] and "any form of business enterprise organized for profit" [(section 100.5(c)(2)] connote actively engaging in extensive or on-going extra-judicial business activities, such as a venture or undertaking in the nature of an economic organization, be it a corporation, partnership or private enterprise. This rule does not encompass a private business relation with minimal participation by the judge, which cannot interfere with the judge's judicial duties, and which is merely incidental to the ownership of property. [See also, Opinion 92-12, Vol. IX].