A years-old mummified body has been found in a cottage bathtub beneath layers of wood, plastic, dirt and sand, Phoenix police said.
The owners of several cottages said they grew suspicious after the renter stopped sending monthly checks, officers said.
The story goes on to say the owners had rented the home in 1995 and received regular rent checks until the summer of 2007. They briefly visited the property last summer and felt the unit was abandoned.
Makes one wonder why they waited until now to go inside…
When they did, they found trash piled to the ceiling and a bathtub filled with dirt. Buried in the tub were the mummified remains of a human body that police believe has been dead for “a number of years”.
Landlord lesson: Regular rent checks or not, you may want to inspect your property more than every 12 years or so.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Kelly Piatt 02.11.08 at 7:43 pm
Wow, that is just bizarre.
Dining Room Set 02.12.08 at 7:19 am
How weird! Foul play suspected?
Clifford 02.12.08 at 7:46 am
As a landlord, I shouldn’t be laughing but I am. Too morbid of me?
With checks steadily coming in, it’s easy to just forget about a property. But no one should go 12 years without at least looking at the property.
Cathy Clark 02.12.08 at 8:58 am
Ahhhh yes, the perfect tenant. Pays on time, doesn’t complain.
I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. Shame on me.
Ken Smith 02.12.08 at 10:01 am
A body in the bathtub, that is crazy. Feel sorry for the person that was cleaning out the bathtub and found the remains.
I have had multiple investor clients that couldn’t even recognize their own rentals when driving around a neighborhood looking for more. They knew they owned homes in the area, just not which ones. The one hadn’t been to the home or talked to the renter in over 20 years. The renter always paid on time and he just didn’t see any point in disturbing them.
Ron Tarvin 02.12.08 at 11:13 am
You know, real estate as a financial making vehicle is GREAT! However, people do not run their real estate empire like a business. Just like ANY business, when too much business begins to occur (could we all be cursed with that problem), you have to hire help. Had this landlord hired a property management company, I’m sure this would not have happened.
Sad thing about this story is that this was a REAL person and it would seem that no one missed them.
Stephanie V 02.12.08 at 11:39 am
Hahaha. Oh my goodness. Agreed, this is just weird. There will definately be some intense investigation following this because of all the stupid evidence. It does seem odd that they would just NOW decide to check the property, yes. Stupid…now they’ll be questioned and what not. Sigh. Ah well. Poor guy. RIP.
Louise Scoggins 02.13.08 at 8:06 am
I couldn’t imagine not going by one of my rentals for 12 years! No matter if the rents checks were still coming in or not.
Melbourne homes for sale 02.13.08 at 10:52 am
Is this for real OMG! OMG! I can’t believe this. I can’t imagine not ever checking on a property like that. I rented a house once and they came to the house twice a year for an inspection when they were in town and they had a property management company handling it but they just wanted to inspect themselves.