Lucas A. Ferrara in New York Times Real Estate Section, DOMESTIC PARTNERS, July 24, 2005.

Q. As a tenant in a rent-stabilized apartment, am I allowed to add a domestic partner to the lease upon renewal even if he does not live in the apartment full time? He lives in a house we own together in Suffolk County and spends one or two days a week in the apartment. ... Jay Territo, Manhattan.

A. Lucas A. Ferrara, a Manhattan real estate lawyer and editor of Landlord-Tenant Monthly, a publication for lawyers, said that under the rent laws, a rent-stabilized tenant has the right to have a "spouse" added to a lease when that spouse resides in the apartment as his or her primary residence. And while the regulations currently identify a spouse as a husband or wife, an argument could be made that the nondiscrimination provisions of the city's Human Rights Law extend this right to domestic partners and same-sex couples.

But, Mr. Ferrara said, since the letter writer indicates that his partner primarily resides in their Suffolk County property, the landlord would be have no legal obligation to add the partner's name to the lease.