DENVER — When Patty Richardson’s mother passed away in June 2023, she expected the next month’s bill at her care home to show a zero balance.
Richardson said she had already paid for the month of June and had her mother’s things removed from the room before the end of the month.
But weeks later, she got a bill totaling nearly $4,000 for rent in the month of July. She assumed the billing department didn’t know her mom had passed away.
They did.
“They said 'you'll have to read your lease on page such and such and such,'” Richardson said. “And I went back and looked, and sure enough…”
Sure enough, the lease she had signed for her mother included a clause: “upon death of a resident, termination of the agreement will be effective 30 days after passing.”
Richardson’s mother died on June 22, 2023. The bill included prorated rent through July 22, 2023. She paid the bill.
“I think at that point, when you're grieving, you just say, well, I'll pay it and move on,” she said.
But then Richardson saw a Steve On Your Side story from April, when another viewer contacted our consumer investigative unit after his mother passed away in a 55+ community.
Carlos Hernandez told Steve On Your Side at the time he couldn’t believe it when he got a statement from Greystar, the company that owned his mom’s apartment complex, citing the same chapter and verse of her lease, which specifically said death was not among the reasons a lease could be terminated.
The company told Steve On Your Side they zeroed out the bill.
“You did a lot of good work to get us there,” Hernandez told Consumer Investigator Steve Staeger Tuesday. “Up until then, they were still sending emails and letters, and with a balance of over $5,000, and then we found out shortly after that was wiped clean.”
“We were happy for our situation, but also, you know, discouraged that that practice is still out there.”
When Steve On Your Side talked to Hernandez in April, he had been in talks with his state representative. Republican Rep. Ron Weinberg of Larimer County said at the time it was too late in the session to write new legislation, but told us he would pursue it during the next legislative session.
He told Steve On Your Side Tuesday he’s begun drafting a bill.
“I think there's something wrong with the law, how it's written for termination of death,” Weinberg said. “I think something needs to be written in code.”
“If I have to put my parents into places, and it happens to them, I couldn't imagine not only dealing with the death of my immediate family members, but then getting hit for the bill.”
He told us that he’s working on potential conflicts and so far hasn’t faced much opposition.
“It just, it seems logical,” Weinberg said. “A lot of people, this hits home with because it happens. It could happen to them. I don't anticipate a fight.”
Weinberg said he plans to name the bill after Hernandez’s mother.
“It's good knowing that even in my mom's passing, she's going to do like she always did and possibly be helping others,” Hernandez said.
Richardson isn’t sure if the potential legislation would have changed her mother’s situation, but said she supports any effort to prevent grieving families from facing extra costs during a difficult time.
Steve On Your Side reached out to the senior living company where Richardson’s mom lived to ask about the reasoning behind their 30 day lease termination terms, but the company hasn’t yet responded to our request for comment.
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