## Facts

- Leslie Blanchard was the tenant of record of a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan owned by Stahl Associates Company.
- Miguel Braschi and Blanchard, a same-sex couple, lived together in the apartment as life partners for approximately 10–11 years until Blanchard’s death in September 1986.
- After Blanchard’s death, Stahl served Braschi with notices to cure and terminate, asserting Braschi was a licensee with no right to remain.
- Braschi sought injunctive relief, claiming protection from eviction under New York City Rent and Eviction Regulations § 2204.6(d) as the surviving spouse or another member of the deceased tenant’s family.
- Evidence of the relationship included shared household life and finances, joint accounts and expenses, being treated socially as a married couple, Braschi’s caregiving during Blanchard’s terminal illness, and estate-planning designations (power of attorney, insurance beneficiary, primary legatee).

## Issues

1. Whether the term “family” in New York City Rent and Eviction Regulations § 2204.6(d) is limited to relationships based on blood, marriage, or adoption.
2. Whether a same-sex life partner in a long-term, emotionally and financially interdependent relationship may qualify as a “family” member entitled to non-eviction protection after the tenant of record dies.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division and reinstated the trial court’s preliminary injunction.
- The court held that “family” under § 2204.6(d) is not confined to blood, marriage, or adoption.
- The court adopted a functional definition of family that can include two adult lifetime partners whose relationship is long term and marked by emotional and financial commitment and interdependence.
- The court concluded Braschi could qualify as a family member and seek protection from eviction, subject to an objective assessment of the relationship’s familial attributes.

## Legal Principles

- Rent-control non-eviction protections are remedial and should be construed broadly to prevent dislocation and preserve established household family units.
- Where a regulation uses “family” without defining it, courts may interpret the term in light of the regulation’s housing-stability purpose rather than limiting it to formal legal statuses.
- A functional “family” analysis may consider objective factors such as the relationship’s exclusivity and longevity, emotional and financial commitment, how the parties organized daily life and held themselves out socially, and reliance on one another for daily family services.
- The non-eviction regulation concerns continued occupancy and protection from sudden loss of one’s home, not transfer of title or general inheritance rules.

## Conclusion

The court interpreted rent-control non-eviction protections to include same-sex life partners who function as family through long-term, emotionally and financially interdependent relationships, allowing the surviving partner to claim protection from eviction after the tenant of record dies.


Braschi v. Stahl Assocs. Co., 74 N.Y.2d 201 (N.Y. 1989)