The Nozzle of The Day!

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." Bill Clanton, an attorney who specializes in consumer and debt collection law, 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. (News 4 San Antonio) 

A woman who faced eviction after complaints about noise from her three emotional support parrots has been awarded enough money to buy plenty of crackers for Layla, Ginger, and Curtis. The Rutherford, a co-operative apartment building in Manhattan, has agreed to pay $165,000 to Meril Lesser in what the Justice Department says is the largest settlement of its kind. Lesser moved into the Rutherford with two parrots in 1999, and there were no complaints until March 2015, five months after she bought a third parrot. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection visited the building 15 times in the year after the neighbor's complaint and found no violations. The co-op "never conducted any decibel testing or other objective evaluation of the alleged noise complaints," the Justice Department said in a news release. The Rutherford "never retained the services of a noise prevention consultant, architect, engineer, or anyone with qualifications or experience in soundproofing to address the neighbor's complaint." Lesser has anxiety and depression. In a federal lawsuit, prosecutors said the birds "soothe and comfort" Lesser, helping her deal with panic attacks, the Post reports. She included a letter from her psychiatrist in a March 2016 request to be allowed to keep the parrots, but the co-op began eviction proceedings in May that year. She moved out, sublet the apartment, and submitted a complaint to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She put the unit up for sale, but in what prosecutors said was an act of retaliation, the co-op rejected an application to buy it in 2019 for $467,500. Under the consent decree signed by a judge last week, the co-op has to offer Lesser $585,000 for her shares in the co-op. The co-op-which chose to go to court instead of settling the case--also has to "adopt a reasonable accommodation policy regarding requests for assistance animals" and halt eviction proceedings. The Justice Department said this is the largest monetary recovery the government has secured "for a victim of housing discrimination denied the right to an assistance animal." (Newser) 

A Connecticut woman earned two Guinness World Records by covering 99.98% of her body in tattoos and having 89 body modifications. Esperance Lumineska Fuerzina, 36, of Bridgeport, was awarded the records for the most tattooed person (female) and the most body modifications (female). Fuerzina has 40 more body modifications than the previous record-holder, Maria Jose Cristerna, who set the record with 49 body mods in 2012. Fuerzina said she got her first tattoo, which has since been covered up, about 15 years ago, and her first body modification, a split tongue, 10 years ago. Her body modifications include several body piercings, as well as tissue-stretching mods and tattoos on her eyeballs gums. She said her journey is not yet complete. "In terms of my body being covered, it is still hard to imagine a set ending," she said. "For many years, now, I've been moving towards more cohesiveness in my suit and that is still an aim of mine." (UPI)