Landlord Makes Lover Lacking Lease Leave Live-In Lodging

We've all heard nightmare tales reminding us of why you shouldn't date your boss, but a Long Island woman learned an even tougher lesson when things went sour with her boyfriend, who also happened to be her landlord. Kim Hookey wanted a full 30 days notice when things went sour with boyfriend Robert Drost—because what's better than living together with your ex for the first month after everything goes haywire? Drost insisted that he wasn't trying to play Hookey; he merely was following the letter of the law which said he only had to give her ten days to pack up her things and leave his Northport house. A judge agreed with Drost that she did not have rights as a "tenant-at-will." Drost's lawyer believed the case could be summed up succinctly by saying, "He owns the house. He asked her to leave. She said she wouldn't." The Suffolk judge said the it's the first time an appellate court "has directly addressed the paramour licensee issue." A Hofstra law professor told Newsday, "It doesn't mean that when all relationships go sour that a boyfriend can evict his partner lickety-split."