We are subtenants in a New York City Rent Stabilized apartment. I have
heard that a subtenant can, after seven years of occupancy, assert the
rights of an official tenant of record. Is this true? Is this a law or
a legal precedent? If this is a law what is the statute and the
official wording? If this is a precedent what case or cases set the
precedent?

If this is not true what other seven year law or precedent might have
this person been referring to (that is, concerning a subtenant of
seven years asserting the rights of an official tenant of record).

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 18 Nov 2006 21:58 PST

blueribbon...

You probably set the hefty price in hopes that someone would answer
that this statute or precedence exists, so I won't post this as an
answer, since I doubt you'll feel as generous about a negative 
finding.

Realistically, if there were some truth to this, it would be all
over the internet as a highly-prized and often-sought gem of truth.

Instead, what is easily found is information like that in this 
article from the New York Times Q and A:

"'Ordinarily, for a nonrelated occupant to gain lease renewal rights
 in their own name, more is required than the payment and acceptance
 of rent,' Mr. Finder said. 'The courts in recent years generally
 require that there be some affirmative act on the landlord's part
 accepting the occupant as a new tenant, or that there be a massive
 amount of evidence that the landlord acquiesced in the occupant
 effectively becoming a tenant.'

[...]

 It used to be, he said, that the courts, at least in Manhattan,
 were more sympathetic to the rights of tenants in these cases.
 'But the direction of the law and the courts over the last five
 or seven years has swung to the landlord'"

Much more on the page:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E6DE1E3EF934A25757C0A962958260


Let me know if this satisfies your interest...

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by blueribbon77-ga on 25 Nov 2006 19:35 PST

I am looking for specifically laws or judges decisions or
personal/professional experience.

I have made the price a little high because I am looking for
legal-type information.

Thank you

blueribbon77-ga, that's not very nice.