Using Real Property Law 227 to Educate Property Owner on the Law
Thousands of elderly New Yorkers every year are confronted with the hard choice of leaving their homes for more appropriate and safe environments. Many of these individuals are long-term tenants with lease terms extending beyond the time they need to move. New York State public policy recognizes the importance of facilitating this end-of-life change and displacement for health and safety reasons in Real Property Law 227-a, titled “Termination of residential lease by senior citizens or individuals with a disability moving to a residence of a family member or entering certain health care facilities, adult care facilities or housing projects.”
In 1999, the law was amended to authorize “a senior citizen to terminate a leasehold or tenancy to move in with a family member upon certification by a physician that such senior citizen is no longer able, for medical reasons, to live independently.”
In July of 2025, a client of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., had a family member in this difficult position, and the move was both immediate and doctor-recommended. However, this necessary move was being prevented by a landlord intent on keeping the elderly family member bound to their lease term, which extended several months beyond the time she needed to move out of her apartment for her health and safety.
With the statutory protection and guidance in hand, I reached out to the landlord’s attorney to fight for our client’s rights. After an initial conversation and an unlawful rejection of the statutory right—a fairly new law that many attorneys were still unaware of—Adam Leitman Bailey and I called again and negotiated forcefully to a successful result for the client and their family. The statutory notice was prepared and served, the lease terminated, legal fees saved, and the client’s elderly family member allowed, with dignity, to move back with her family.