Wow, that landlord must be a real sleazebag. Is he the same person who posted that Room for Rent ad you guys showed a few weeks ago?

Tacky.
Distasteful.
Unsympathetic.
Ass face.

That's all I can muster up right now.

Can the ex claim that his ex-wife still haunts the place and therefore it's being used? Geez, what a bunch of slimeballs. "Your ex-wife was murdered by Santa! What are you going to do about her broken lease, huh? We've had plenty of people get murdered to try to weasel out of a lease, and by George, it's not going to happen again!"

Have we really come to this ?
Since he has no obligation under the law,he should politely tell these people to bugger off.
Our sympathies for your loss,sir, and our apologies for what passes for human beings.

What is the landlords reasoning?

"Well, the newspapers know a day ahead of time that you're going to die so they can print the obituaries. Since it's yourself, you should know at least 30 days ahead of time that you're going to die. Perhaps he thinks the killer scheduled an appointment with the victims, so they had ample time to alert him to their not being living anymore, so they could make arrangements to close the lease?"

@shorty63136: Poo poo head and Fucknuts come to mind as well.

@Snarkysnake: I was under the impression that the estate would be responsible for legitimate debt.

So if he did not co-sign, good luck!

@Snarkysnake: Under normal circumstances he should POLITELY tell these people to bugger off. Under THESE circumstances he can tell them however he likes. Preferably loudly, emotionally and publicly.

I don't even know how to comment on this... it's just disgusting.

@KyleOrton: Here here.

I agree wholeheartedly that the noble thing for the landlord to do would be to cancel and void any monies due it because of the tragic way that this happened, and of course no other person should ever be held personally liable.

I am a little curious because the original news story itself says that the landlord submitted an invoice *to the woman's estate*. That is really quite different from sending it to her ex-husband. Such an invoice would go to probate and be paid off or dismissed through the normal process for wrapping up a decedent's obligations.

Presumably the woman's ex-husband is the executor of her estate and quite possibly even her primary heir, so in the end, the money would come out of his pocket.

(These are just thoughts, and not meant to be a judgement on any person's behavior in this matter)

@cynical_bastard:

Reading the article it does appear that the landlord is making the claim against the estate. I would just guess that the ex-husband is handling the ex-wife's estate. Given how much else her surviving family has to deal with they're probably not up to it.

This is one of those rare situations where it is probably appropriate to mail the letter back to the landlord with a nicely wrapped box of poop.

@Snarkysnake: I agree with this. What are they going to do, sue her?

@jnews: I agree. If the landlord sent the bill to her "estate", then this guy is simply filing the paperwork and is being vilified for nothing. Sure, he could cancel all her bills and be awesome, but sending the papers to her estate isn't mean or evil.

This is so outrageous, there should be some sort of limitations in cases like these or someone should just burn that place down... First article that I have read today and lost my faith in humanity...

What does the law say on this? Does the landlord have the right to collect from the estate, or is he entitled to nothing due to her death?

It sounds like the landlord is making a claim against her estate, not the husband personally. MISLEADING SENSATIONALISTIC HEADLINE.

If she has a car loan, I wonder if the bank will let her estate keep the car for free? Or will we see another headline soon, "Bank Orders Ex-Husband to Pay Murdered Wife's Car Loan"? This is the same difference, despite it seeming a little callous.

@plyhard13:
with a lot of corn.... and blackberries, those run right through me too

And I thought my college slumlord was a scumbag.

Jeez this sounds familiar. There was an almost identical story I read somewhere about a person who lived alone and died of a heart attack and the landlord tried the same thing.

My question to the landlord would be, "In the scenario where a tennant is murdered, what is the correct procedure for them to notify you 60 days in advance?"

If they can't desribe how she SHOULD have done things, then they can't say the tennant did anything wrong.

@jnews:

I don't see anything wrong with submitting the bill to the estate either. I doubt her credit card companies or other debtors are going to cancel her bills. Why should the landlord?

While her death is tragic, and while it would certainly be noble of the landlord to wipe the fees, it's not his fault that the person was murdered - why should he have to take a financial loss because one of his tenants, through no fault of his own, was murdered?

Times are tough, even for maggots.

The headline on this is totally misleading. The demand is for the woman’s estate to pay the claim, not the ex-husband. If she died with assets, all creditors and valid claims must be paid out of the assets prior to her heirs getting anything. It is up to the executor or administrator to decide if it is worth challenging the claim. That is what probate courts are for. Most states have laws that dictate the priorities of such claims. If there are no assets, creditors get nothing. It doesn’t matter if she was murdered or died of natural causes. The property owner could have decided that it is not worth pursuing so the estate (maybe the state if there are no statutory heirs) gets more, but that shouldn't be up to us. If you think it is so wrong, write a check to the family yourself.

Even if the landlord submitted the request for payment to the estate, couldn't the estate refuse to pay based on the landlord's reasoning, "insufficient notice to vacate"? There was no way she could have given notice. Did the landlord give the family notice of a time period of when they should collect her belongings from the apartment before he would start racking up the fees or is that not even required? I can understand somewhat that the landlord would like to rent out the apartment and if her stuff is still there then that's an issue, but to claim she broke the lease and that's why they should be able to collect off the estate seems a little shady.

@KyleOrton:
I hear you. But I am sure he has more class than that. Not that they deserve it.

@shorty63136:
@shorty63136:

Completely vile
Unbelievably disrespectful
Nerve maddening ridiculousness
Torrential stupidity
Systematic horribleness

This makes me want to vomit with rage.

@jnews:

The article says the invoice was submitted to her estate, which is very different from the post. It is completely normal for any and all creditors to submit claims to the estate during probate. If this woman's estate has money, not her ex-husband, to pay off the debt then it gets paid. I would expect that this woman's estate will sue the killer's estate/home owner's insurance that covered the property where the crime took place and then perhaps there will be funds to distribute to the creditors.

On the other hand all creditors could just ignore debts upon death and all of us (the living) have to end up paying more to rent an apartment.

This is the corporation that owns the apartment building

[www.allresco.com]

Alliance Residental Company of Phoenix, AZ (602)778 2800

"Since Carlos Ortiz was not on the lease, he has no legal obligation to pay the rent being demanded by these chum-slurping maggots."

This comment by the editor is not supported by the facts of the article - the the landlord is making a claim against the deceased estate. I'm a bit disappointed with this story - I would think that it's not too much to ask that the editor at least read the portion of the original story that he has cut/paste onto this web site.

@jnews: I agree with your interpretation. It sounds as if the ex-husband is the executor of the estate, and the landlord submitted a claim to the estate. I'd also suggest that CBS (which published the original article) and Consumerist look into the difference in meaning between the word "told" and "asked." The estate was not told to pay by anyone who has the authority to force them to do so. The estate was asked to pay by someone who hopes they will do so.

This all comes from the guy who was the landlord of the world trade centers sending bills to the companies that were tenants billing for rent from 9/1-9/10. Then the courts saying that, yup, the companies needed to pay him. I guess they were supposed to take care of it between going to funerals and sorting out death benefits.

So if a guy that big could collect for something like that, why can't these guys collect too?

@albear: Oh, fuck. I live at one of their properties.

Well.....could they just move the body back into the place and wait for the eviction process to take its course?

Ok, I think I see both sides of this issue. The landlord should be able to collect from the estate the rent on the apartment up until the apartment was vacated. The part I don't agree with is that they are going after the estate for breaking the lease. That's just crap.

@chgoeditor: Probably a bigger management company where this type of thing is semi automated. The person sending in the paper work most likely has no idea what happened to this woman.

@ZukeZuke: A loan is different from a lease though. In the case of a car loan, the car has been sold to the owner of the lease with the intent that the loan will be fully paid and the car would then be transferred in full ownership of the buyer. So a car loan would be a valid claim on the estate of the deceased.

The same works for Credit Cards and Mortgages.

A lease is different. A lease is essentially a contractile renting of something for a set amount of time. A leased car or apartment is not something that has an agreed upon payment before a change of ownership happens. Once the time on the lease is completed, the ownership rights remain with the lessor. ownership rights never transfer to the lessee. So in this case they could make the claim that the terms of the lease have been broken and they are owed restitution for the breaking of the lease, but that will only hold up if the lessee broke the lease with intent. Dying unexpectedly by being murdered by Santa is not intent to break a lease and will not hold up. Unless she planned it to break the lease. Not likely though.

So although the landlord is legally allowed to seek restitution under the terms of the lease, he is still a scum bag for not taking into account of the nature of the lease being broken.

The old media trick is played everyday. Get wronged then tell the media (but hope it is a very slow media day). Now the property management company will back off and forget the whole thing. That is how this situation will play out.

Where's corporateguy? This thread is desperately in need of hearing from someone on the landlord's side in this mess.

@ZukeZuke:

Great point! Although for this case, the headline should really be:

"Bank Sends Demand for Payment to Executor of Estate to Pay Murder Victim's Car Loan, from the Proceeds of the Estate"

At least the article was clear this time. We're not talking about the ex-husband owing anything. He doesn't; it's misleading to say that he does. We're talking about the dead woman's estate here. It's her money; she's dead; she doesn't need it.

@crazyasianman: Effectively disgusting! *cringe*

@CarlR: But if she has nothing in her estate, no insurance, no nothing (let's assume for a minute that she doesn't), does that not make them chum-slurping maggots?

If she has nothing - they get nothing. Her child, who was a 17-year old resident of the apartment, is dead. That would've been the person the could've gone after (and maybe not b/c he's only 17, not 18).

@Nixi: Let's try 'unconscionable' and then get a lawyer.

@madanthony: It's not so much the action as the reasoning. Quietly submitting a bill for just the balance of a month or so of rent is somewhat understandable. Levying penalties because someone did not give advance notice that they were going to be murdered is a dick move.

@IphtashuFitz: yeah that was my brother, and the article was also published on this site.

What'd I miss? Sounds like the landlord is a creditor making a claim against an estate, of which the ex-husband is probably the executor. Last I checked, a person's debts don't automatically disappear when they die, even under tragic circumstances like these.