Apartment complex bills woman who died for breaking her lease

SAN ANTONIO - They say "you can't take it with you." But a local apartment complex says you better pay up before you go. It sent a bill to the family of one of its former tenants charging her for breaking her lease when she died.

The woman's children received a bill from the apartment complex for $15,676 and a collection notice, despite a Texas law that says family members can cancel a lease if a loved one passes away.

“The fact that they're attacking, coming after the next of kin, who quite honestly, we loved our mom and we're still grieving and all they care about is the money," said David Naterman, the woman’s son.

91-year-old Sandra Bonilla died in late June and was buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery next to her husband. For more than ten years she lived at the Lodge at Shavano Park Apartments. At the time of her death, Bonilla had almost a year left on her two-year lease.

“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 said.

But later the family received this bill for $14,368 in "accelerated rent" and an $1,117 lease break fee. It even states the reason for her move-out as "deceased".

“They want the rest of the, about a year's long worth of rent, from a dead person," Naterman said.

Our calls and email to the Lodge at Shavano Park were not returned so we went to the leasing office where the manager told us he couldn't comment due to tenant confidentiality.

“I think it's pretty unusual, I’ve never heard of anybody trying to charge an estate or somebody who is deceased for rent before," said Bill Clanton, an attorney who specializes in consumer and debt collection law.

Clanton says a section of the Texas Property Code (sec. 92.0162) states a representative of the tenant's estate may "avoid liability for future rent" if they take two steps: Remove all property from the apartment and provide a written notice of termination. The landlord can only charge up to 30 days rent after the notice is received.

“The landlord can charge for about 30 days once the lease is terminated, you can't get blood from a turnip and you certainly can't get rent from a dead person," Clanton said.

Bonilla's son says they sent the termination notice, but still received a collection letter threatening to report the debt to a credit bureau or file legal action. For now, the family is waiting to see if the apartment complex follows through.