Matter of Kaufman v New York City Dept. of Hous. Preserv. & Dev.
2007 NY Slip Op 08274 [45 AD3d 257]
November 1, 2007
Appellate Division, First Department
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.
As corrected through Wednesday, January 16, 2008


In the Matter of Samantha Kaufman et al., Petitioners,
v
New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development et al., Respondents.

[*1] Cohen Kaufman PLLC, New York City (Aglaia Davis of counsel), for petitioners.

Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York City (Jane L. Gordon of counsel), for New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, respondent.

Barry Mallin & Associates, P.C., New York City (Michael Schwartz of counsel), for Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc., respondent.

Determination of respondent Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), dated June 16, 2005, which, after hearing, granted respondent Mutual Development Houses, Inc.'s request for a certificate of eviction, unanimously confirmed, the petition denied, and the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the Supreme Court, New York County [Kibbe F. Payne, J.], entered February 7, 2006), dismissed, without costs.

HPD's determination that the apartment is not petitioner tenant's primary residence is supported by substantial evidence, including her failure to file income statements, the testimony of Mutual's legal coordinator and investigator, albeit largely hearsay (see People ex rel. Vega v Smith, 66 NY2d 130, 139 [1985]), and the failure of petitioner tenant to testify herself. The record demonstrates that the issue of succession rights to the apartment was not raised at the administrative level (see Matter of Steffey v New York State Div. of Hous. & Community [*2]Renewal, 276 AD2d 407, 408 [2000], lv denied 96 NY2d 709 [2001]). We have considered petitioners' other arguments and find them unavailing. Concur—Lippman, P.J., Mazzarelli, Friedman, Marlow and Buckley, JJ.