When 91-year-old Sandra Bonilla died in June, her family had to manage all the logistics that come with the passing of a loved one — planning the funeral, dividing her belongings, and settling debts. Not on that list? Paying a lump sum to Bonilla’s landlord.
In what the family described as a “heartless” move, the San Antonio apartment complex billed her survivors $15,676 in lost rent and penalties, claiming Bonilla “broke the lease” when she died. To add insult to injury, the bill came with a collection notice. The elderly woman had lived at the complex for ten years and still had one year left on her lease.
After the family took their story to local media, however, the Lodge at Shavano Park Apartment abruptly changed its tune. The day after the story broke on News4SA, the apartment manager issued an apology to the family and canceled all rent and lease break charges. Perhaps the response came so swiftly because it’s illegal in Texas to indiscriminately charge rent to a deceased person.
Under Texas law, a representative of a deceased tenant can “avoid liability for future rent ” if they do two things: Give written notice of the lease termination and remove the tenant’s property from the premises.
Bonilla’s son, David Naterman, said the family followed these steps and sent the termination notice, yet they still received a collection letter threatening to report the debt to a credit bureau or file legal action.
“We went to the apartment complex, spoke to the leasing manager and he told us that he would use the security deposit towards the cleaning and turning over the apartment and that they would terminate the lease,” Naterman told the outlet. He noted that the bill listed the reason for her move-out as “deceased,” so there was no question as to the circumstances.
But on August 23, after the news broke, the Lodge at Shavano Park Apartment canceled the bill for $14,368 in “accelerated rent” and dropped the $1,117 lease break fee. Manager Brandon Izaguirre emailed an apology to the family, which News4SA obtained. The manager cited a “clerical error” as the reason for the mishap.
“We are very sorry for the unfortunate clerical error that led to incorrect charges being applied to Sandra’s account with The Lodge at Shavano Park Apartments. We have corrected the error and removed the remaining charges as a courtesy. There is no balance due, and the updated Final Account Statement is attached to this email. Again, we apologize for our mistake.”
Bonilla’s case is very similar to the ordeal another family went through at the Avenida complex in Loveland, Colorado. The complex is owned by Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the U.S., with more than $74 billion in gross assets.
The Loveland senior living complex tried to charge $4,000 in penalty fees against a deceased tenant’s estate in January. Leticia Farrer, who had dementia, died not long after moving in, and the manager told grieving family members she would be pursuing charges because Farrer broke the lease early by dying, reported CBS News. Under Colorado law, a lease is terminated upon death — unless there is a stipulation in the paperwork, and in this case, there was. Farrer’s family was legally on the hook for the fees.
It seems that age-old adage still rings true: Always read the fine print.
