Would You Give This Widow Her Money Back?

[OneEyedDiva]

This is a heartbreaking story of a couple from France who were planning to open a restaurant in New York. It's also a mystery. The wife Manon got a distress call from her husband while he was on vacation, Feb 22nd at 1:00 a.m. yelling for her to come get him. He was seen wearing a torn shirt that night and found 12 days later after allegedly falling off a bridge.

Article excerpt:
Manon told the New York Post they had already paid out a $166,000 deposit as well as almost $50,000 for two months' worth of rent to Robert Moskowitz, the owner of New York-based Only Properties LLC.

A 10-year lease had been signed and even in the wake of this tragic circumstance the landlord refused to refund the money and still expects her to make rental payments that were agreed on even though she will not be opening the restaurant. Now the widow is destitute, she said they had already sold their home and used all their savings, so she and her children have no place to go and no money.
https://l.smartnews.com/p-k47lFoc/o43bre

Due to the circumstances, do you think she should have been refunded at least part of the money they paid the landlord if not all?

 

[That Lady in PA]

The devil is in the details, legally.
We don't know the whole story.

for example: Most restaurants fail within two years... yet they signed a 10 year lease in NYC?!?!
Did they both sign the legal documents?
etc

 

[Twostep]

There are always three sides to such stories. Opening a restaurant and going on vacation?

 

[911]

There’s a lot of holes to this story that needs filled. I can’t begin to give an opinion.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

"Would you give this widow her money back?" - yes, I would, because I couldn't live with myself knowing she had met with such unfortunate circumstances and now faces potential homelessness, but most landlords enforce contracts, and their position is generally upheld by the courts.

The news story did say, "Moskowitz’s lawyers said they would hold Manon responsible for the entire 10-year lease unless she signed a ‘surrender agreement’. Manon has since signed the surrender agreement but has launched a GoFundMe campaign in order to support her family."

Being as she signed the agreement, maybe it has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.

 

[Aunt Bea]

No.

The most that I would do is try and find a new tenant that was financially able to accept the same terms and ultimately make some sort of partial refund.

 

[Inept]

There are always three sides to such stories. Opening a restaurant and going on vacation?

... plus voluntarily moving to a country they knew had no social safety net? They put all of their eggs in one basket. They may just as well have bet their life savings on a poker game.

 

[Inept]

There’s a lot of holes to this story that needs filled.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Twostep]

... plus voluntarily moving to a country they knew had no social safety net? They put all of their eggs in one basket. They may just as well have bet their life savings on a poker game.

They moved to the US did they not?

 

[Inept]

... voluntarily moving to a country they knew had no social safety net. They put all of their eggs in one basket. They may just as well have bet their life savings on a poker game.

They moved to the US did they not?

Exactly my point.

 

[Twostep]

Exactly my point.

One of the pitfalls of being an expat - being able to read and understand a contract. It is not very likely that collections will cath up with her in France.

 

[Buckeye]

Refund the deposit, keep the rent.

 

[Inept]

One of the pitfalls of being an expat - being able to read and understand a contract.

True.

It is not very likely that collections will cath up with her in France.

I think you're probably right but she still has to sort everything out. What to do with her husband and how to get herself and her children back to Europe. They made a bad decision. I lived a short time in France with a French woman. The relationship was a disaster. I packed up my car and left but getting my money from my French bank accout was troublsome. Luckily the amount of money I lost did not break me so I cut my loses and that was that. The woman in the OP is an entirely different matter. Her life is going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[StarSong]

MSN

More information in this article.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

MSN

More information in this article.

Yes, this was similar, but did provide more information. In part, it says:
“Refusing to sign the surrender agreement will not result in a return of your security deposit, but it will result in you being held fully responsible for all of the obligations set forth in the parties’ lease agreement,” Only Properties’ attorney Nicole Waknine wrote in the March 3 letter to Manon."
[So why did Manon sign it? I can see nothing for her to gain by doing so. She should have consulted an attorney, if she did not.]

As for the surrender agreement, the first article simply said:
"Moskowitz’s lawyers said they would hold Manon responsible for the entire 10-year lease unless she signed a ‘surrender agreement’. Manon has since signed the surrender agreement but has launched a GoFundMe campaign in order to support her family."

 

[Sunny]

The puzzling part of this story is his apparently solo vacation, the torn shirt, and his body was found in a river. Whether or not the guy in New York refunds the deposit is almost beside the point.

Did the family now live in NY? What was he doing in France alone, then sending his wife a distress call to come and get him? This sounds a bit like those scam stories where someone calls a family member saying they are in a foreign prison and need to be rescued. The whole story sounds sort of hokey to me.

If the NY Post did their homework, and the story was real, why did they print it with so many holes in it? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty dubious about the whole thing.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I’m old and cynical enough to think that they realized they were in over their head and the man committed suicide.

 

[smiley]

some strange persons on the planet heh?

 

[fuzzybuddy]

It's not the owner, Moskowitz's fault her husband died, so why should he "suffer", because the wife is now pulling out of the lease.
I'm surprised that somebody would fork over $216,000 for a lease and not have an attorney review the lease. This situation is exactly what you pay an attorney to prevent.
BTW, a spot in a parking garage in Manhattan usually rents for at least $1,500/month, $25,000 rent for a whole restaurant seems very cheap.

 

[That Lady in PA]

It's not the owner, Moskowitz's fault her husband died, so why should he "suffer", because the wife is now pulling out of the lease.
I'm surprised that somebody would fork over $216,000 for a lease and not have an attorney review the lease. This situation is exactly what you pay an attorney to prevent.

He kept the down payment and the Jan and Feb rent.

Legally he could have held her liable for the entire 10 years lease IF she was a cosigner. But she was released from any further payment.

 

[Inept]

I’m old and cynical enough to think that they realized they were in over their head and the man committed suicide.

Not completely impossible.

 

[astralcat]

For sure, there is something fishy here. Why would anyone not hire a lawyer to check out all the details and offer them advice on how to proceed? I can't even imagine any lawyer telling them this was a good deal. It has risk written all over it. The owner is not responsible and is looking after himself and his business. She is lucky she got what she did from them.

 

[Judycat]

Sounds like a way to guarantee soft headed people will send money to a GoFundMe. But I could be wrong. Open a restaurant in NYC? Don't they have enough of those already?

 

[LoveTulips]

As horrible as it is that her husband died, could she not have found another business partner to replace him? And it does seem rather dumb to put all your eggs in one basket, which they seemed to do.

 

[Inept]

Sounds like a way to guarantee soft headed people will send money to a GoFundMe.

A definite possibililty.

Open a restaurant in NYC?

That's what I was asking myself too. They had to have a large sum of capital to even consider it. Having a restaurant is a business. Having one in NYC is a bigger business than if they had it in Tulsa, for example. They risked the future of their whole family on what? What was their plan for the possibiliby of one of them getting ill? Either someone fleeced them or they are trying to fleece someone else. Either way, they took a huge risk and have screwed up their children ..... maybe for life.