A COLORADO STATE OF MIND

When the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) issued a Certificate of Eviction authorizing Lolita Santiago to be evicted from her apartment, an Article 78 proceeding was filed challenging the agency's determination.

Apparently, back in 2004, Santiago purchased a condo in Colorado and voting records showed Colorado as her place of residence.

In November 2005, about a year before the HPD proceeding, Santiago spent less than the required 183 days of the calendar year in New York. In fact, she admitted she hadn't stayed overnight in her apartment since January 2002 and was unable to produce a 2004 NYC Resident Income Tax return.

When the case got transferred to the Appellate Division, First Department, that court was of the view Santiago's Manhattan apartment wasn't her "primary residence" and confirmed the outcome. (The court refused to excuse her absence from the apartment for medical reasons as it saw that evidence as "unavailing.")

No rocky mountain high for that Colorado resident.

To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: Matter of Santiago v. East Midtown Plaza Hous. Co., Inc.