When 91-year-old Sandra Bonilla died in June, her family had to deal with all the logistics that come with the death of a loved one – planning the funeral, dividing up her belongings and paying off debts. What wasn’t on the list? Paying a lump sum to Bonilla’s landlord.
In a move the family called “heartless,” the San Antonio apartment complex billed her survivors $15,676 in back rent and penalties, claiming Bonilla “broke” the lease when she died. To make matters worse, the bill came with a late payment notice. The elderly woman had lived at the complex for 10 years and had one year left on her lease.
However, after the family took their story to local media, the Lodge at Shavano Park Apartment abruptly changed its tone. A day after the story broke on News4SA, the apartment manager apologized to the family and canceled all rent and termination fees. Perhaps the response was so swift because it is illegal in Texas to indiscriminately charge rent to a deceased person.
Under Texas law, the representative of a deceased tenant can “avoid liability for future rent payments” by doing two things: providing written notice of the termination of the lease and removing the tenant’s property from the premises.
Bonilla’s son, David Naterman, said the family followed those steps and sent the notice, but still received a collection letter threatening to report the debt to a credit agency or take legal action.
“We went to the apartment complex, spoke to the leasing manager, and he told us he would use the security deposit to clean and turn over the apartment and that they would terminate the lease,” Naterman told the outlet. He noted that the invoice listed “deceased” as the reason for her move out, so there was no doubt about the circumstances.
But on August 23, after the news broke, the Lodge at Shavano Park Apartment canceled the $14,368 “accelerated rent” bill and dropped the $1,117 contract termination fee. Manager Brandon Izaguirre apologized to the family via email obtained by News4SA. The manager cited a “clerical error” as the reason for the mishap.
“We sincerely apologize for the unfortunate typo that resulted in incorrect charges being made to Sandra’s account at The Lodge at Shavano Park Apartments. We have corrected the error and removed the remaining charges as a gesture of goodwill. There is no remaining balance due and the updated final statement is attached to this email. We apologize again for our error.”
Bonilla’s case is very similar to the ordeal endured by another family at the Avenida complex in Loveland, Colorado. The complex is owned by Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the United States with total assets of over $74 billion.
The Loveland senior living complex tried to collect $4,000 in penalty fees from a deceased tenant’s inheritance in January. Leticia Farrer, who suffered from dementia, died shortly after moving in, and the manager told grieving family members that she would file charges because Farrer had terminated the lease early by dying, CBS News reported. Under Colorado law, a lease ends with death – unless there is a clause in the paperwork to that effect, and in this case there was. Farrer’s family was legally required to pay the fees.
The age-old saying still seems to hold true: always read the fine print.
