Originally posted by erobitha
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Firstly - as you say, it would be very unusual for a landlord to allow someone to build up such a large debt. Which is why I have wondered if McCarthy was in fact fibbing about it.
Perhaps, just perhaps, with his tenant (very) dead, and owing a small amount of money, he took the opportunity to boost the figure on the offchance that Mary Jane had a relative or someone who would pay her debts after her death. It is a real long chance, but he is probably going to lose the small amount of rent she owed, so why not claim it was more and hope? Nothing at all to lose by doing so except of course...
Having said that, it also occurs to me that a potential significant disadvantage to this would be that publically announcing that he had let a tenant build up such a large debt would surely be a precedent he would not want to set.
"Oh, Mr McCarthy, please give me longer to pay you, I know what a kind generous man you are, like you were for poor, dear, dead Mary Jane Kelly, God rest her soul"
I kind of get the impression that he was quite a hard-nosed business man. So revealing he had let Mary Jane get away with owing him so much seems like a bad business move.
So if she really did owe him so much, why would he not lie to maintain his reputation.
I have spent far too long thinking about this, hehe.
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