A Chiayi court ordered a tenant to pay a landlord about NT$1.07 million after her son took his own life in the rented property and she tried to hide it, a costly loss for the tenant and a partial win for the landlord.

• A woman rented a house in Chiayi County for Rotary Club meetings on a three-year lease, then fell behind on rent within two months.
• Her son killed himself inside the house in the third month; she did not tell the landlord and instead said she wanted out because a snake had gotten in and scared her.
• The landlord only learned the truth from a neighbor, and sued for NT$3.5 million, saying the death turned the property into a "haunted house" that nobody wants to buy.
• An appraisal firm put the loss in market value at about NT$911,000; the court added unpaid rent and rejected her claim that the lease had already ended.
• The court said she was liable because she let her son live there, and that she never gave the two months' notice the lease required.

Outlook: The ruling can still be appealed, and it reinforces that in Taiwan a tenant can be held financially responsible when a death inside a rental destroys its resale value.