NYC Landlord suing family of 9/11 victim for lost rent!

[quote]
[Danielle Kousoulis, 29, worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower as a vice president for Cantor Fitzgerald. She signed a lease on a $2,500-a-month loft apartment 10 days before a hijacked plane crashed into her workplace.

In a letter this month, landlord Denise M. Lyman claimed she was an unpaid creditor and threatened to take Kousoulis’ family in Haddon Township, N.J., to court.

Neighbors and a doorman said Lyman and her teenage daughter moved into the apartment in the Packard Condominium building.

Under New York state common law, a lease does not automatically end when a tenant dies — both parties must agree to surrender it. But New York City attorneys and property managers said a landlord moving into an apartment is evidence of a surrender.](http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/StoryFolder/story_1496937120_html)

I wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what other untoward business this bitch has been up to?

What a bitch. :mad:

Tripler
Really, how indecent can people be?

Sounds like what happened after the Titanic-White Star sent a letter to the family of musician Jock Hume for the cost of his uniform.

Can she even DO this?

Well, apparently she already has. Whether it will go through or be thrown out of court remains to be seen.

People pull stupid shit like this all the time.

At first I thought, oh, it was some big bank or condo, and the system didn’t know she was a 9/11 victim, and some computer noticed the non-payment and sent out the notice automatically, etc. etc…

But the landlord and her daughter moved into the poor woman’s apartment?? And they didn’t think anybody would notice?!

Fuckers.

At first I thought, oh, it was some big bank or condo, and the system didn’t know she was a 9/11 victim, and some computer noticed the non-payment and sent out the notice automatically, etc. etc…

But the landlord and her daughter moved into the poor woman’s apartment?? And they didn’t think anybody would notice?!

Fuckers.

It seems very reasonable to me that the lease doesn’t immediately become void upon the tenant’s death. As long as the tenant’s estate pays the rent, the apartment can be used by the estate. I can even see, in a twisted way, that the estate should be responsible for the remainder of the lease, provided it isn’t used by anyone else in that time.

Of course, locking the family out, refusing to allow the apartment to be cleaned out, and moving in yourself sort of voids the whole lease thing altogether.

If I had the dough, I’d pay the lease and have her ass thrown in jail for criminal trespass.

What does it changes whether the person was a 9/11 victim or killed by a drunk driver? If what the landlord did was wrong, it wouldn’t be less wrong in the latter case…

I agree that the fact that it was a 9/11 death means nothing, but if the landlord was dumb enough to move into the damn apartment and THEN try to claim rent, that’d kinda void her whole case wouldn’t it? I don’t know the law in USA on double letting, etc.

clairobscur, I don’t think that quote is implying what you are inferring.

I agree with Cheesesteak, since it seems a mutual agreement is required to void the lease isn’t the landlord guilty of trespass? Judging from the deceased’s job description I would think her estate would be able to cover rent for more than a few months.

Any in-duh-vidual trying to extract civil court monetary remedies from the family of a person that was killed in the attacks of 9/11 should be drawn and quartered…

I realize that a lease is binding, even after death (in some states)… but we all took an economic hit after the attacks… my portfolio took a (roughly) 10% hit… I’m not planning on suing anyone.

Just re-lease the apartment. Lose the month or two rent it takes to re-lease it. That’s not that much money… don’t be a piece of crap and try to recover the revenue that you lost for the years’ rent.

Oh well, there will always be profiteers in the world. I’ll just try to ignore them.

Sorry if my response seems a bit reactionary… I just don’t like these kind of situations… Please take retributions from those that caused the problems, not those that suffered in the situation.

Once again, sorry, not my most intelligent post… I’m still pissed over some acquaintances that I’ll never see again.

Of course, if there was a way that I could regain my losses from the in-duh-vidual behind the attacks… … … I’d sue in a heart-beat.

I think the family would welcome a chance to put this in front of a jury, then counter-sue the holy bejeezus out of the landlord.
Really, what jury in the US of A would side with this landlord??? Even if the judge instructs them that ALL of the arguments the family makes are not to be considered, they’ll still side with the family.

I have to disagree with you there, in a general sense. If there are legitimate circumstances under which the estate or family of the deceased can be held liable, then seeking payment through the courts is not wrong simply because the deceased was killed in the WTC. Death is death.

Though, this landlord in particular should be drawn and quartered.

I’m glad to see that most people don’t agree with this.

Ignoring for a moment the fact that the person who was renting the apartment was killed on September 11th, the fact that the landlord move into the apartment should be enough to get this thrown out. If person A rents something to person B, while person B is paying for it, person A cannot use it.

I think if she was actively stopping them from vacating the apartment, she can’t then turn round and say they were using it.

I’m going to try to be charitable and mention that maybe the landlord needs to file suit in order to show that she’s exhausted all available legal remedies in order to get her business insurance to cover the lost rent.

It’s probably more than she deserves, though.

That she first refused to let the family into the apartment to get a hairbrush for a DNA sample is pretty heartless. Then that she attempted to prevent them from moving the woman’s things out, and then moved into the apartment herself and is now attempting to collect the entire amount for the lease is just despicable. She could have rented the apartment to someone else once the woman’s stuff was out, but she propbably figured the gal was wealthy, so she could get the money from the estate and get a free place to live out of the deal. I think she is a greedy, nasty, worthless excuse for a human being.