1 800-518-0890 SHARING APARTMENTS
A tenant living alone in either a rent controlled or rent
stabilized apartment may invite an additional occupant, and the
dependent children of the occupant, to share an apartment. An
unlimited number of the tenant's immediate family members are
also permitted to share the apartment.
If two or more people signed a lease, a new occupant may replace
a departing tenant, however, the total number of tenants and
occupants may not exceed the original number of people who signed
the original lease. Most important, one of the original signers
of the lease must continue to live in the apartment.
An important distinction is made in the law between tenants and
occupants.
The tenant is the person or persons who signed the lease, and the
occupant is the person who moves in after the lease is signed.
The tenant retains the rights under the lease and is the only
person who may renew a lease once it expires. (Please read the
exceptions listed under Succession Rights). Once the tenant moves
out of an apartment, the occupant loses the right to remain in
the apartment without the expressed written consent of the
landlord.
A landlord may not pry into the nature of a relationship between
people who want to be roommates.
If you want to share your apartment, you should notify your
landlord in writing within 30 days of the date your roommate
moves in. If you fail to do that, you are required to respond to
an inquiry by your landlord within 30 days of his or her asking
whether a new occupant is living in the apartment.
The right to share your apartment is automatic, and a lease
provision that restricts sharing is invalid and may not be
enforced.
The following section on "Succession Rights" explains the
circumstances under which a person who has been sharing an
apartment may qualify to remain and obtain a lease even after the
original tenant has died or moved out.