Tenant passed away with no will?

Tenant passed away with no will?

0:02 AM, 20th March 2024, About a month ago 7

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My long-term tenant has sadly died. She lived alone and had been in my property for over 15 years. She was on an AST tenancy agreement through my local council.

The flat needs clearing and there is a lot of work to do in order to be able to rent it out again as quickly as possible. My long-term tenant has a daughter however she has mental problems but I am in contact with her.

Where do I stand in being able to clear the flat? There was no will, so do I have to wait for any paperwork?

I have a good relationship with the daughter and her partner.

Any advice from Property118 readers is greatly appreciated,

Susan


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Comments

Jill Church

11:27 AM, 20th March 2024, About a month ago

We had similar experience some years ago. This is what I found out:
Tenancy does not end with tenants death, it becomes part of the deceased's estate, and so should be dealt with by the Executors of the Will, if no Will then by whoever is dealing with the estate. Chattels can be removed/disposed of prior to Probate being granted.
Formally you should contact next of kin and ask who is dealing with the Estate. You can then write to them advising you are willing to accept surrender of the tenancy, agree a date and get them to sign and return to you.
If they don't wish to surrender then rent is still due.
When a date is agreed the keys should be returned to you by that date.The Estate should deal with removal of belongings and for property to be cleaned.
A check out report should be done.
In this instance, and assuming it is a small Estate and the daughter or her partner will probably deal with it; I would ask the daughter as next of kin to agree the surrender of the tenancy, agree a date and get her to sign and possibly witness to sign too.
Depending on their circumstances, I would consider asking them to take what they want from the property and give you WRITTEN permission to dispose of everything they leave.

Julesgflawyer

13:31 PM, 20th March 2024, About a month ago

If you can't deal with the personal representatives for whatever reason, you may be able to serve a s8 notice relying on the mandatory Ground 7. As Jill Church says, rent continues to be due from the estate until the tenancy is ended by surrender, tenants notice to quit, or court order.

Jill Church

17:05 PM, 20th March 2024, About a month ago

Further to my earlier comment; when I showed it to my husband he said he hoped the property wasn't a 4 bedroomed house with garage and sheds stuffed with heavy furniture and rubbish hoarded over the years as he would not relish disposing of all that!
We only let small 1 bed flats I forget other landlords let bigger properties.
I was only thinking of a speedy repossession!

Lucy

10:43 AM, 21st March 2024, About a month ago

Hi
It’s only a studio flat! however my tenant didn’t have a will and the daughter doesn’t want to be the Executor as she is next of kin- so they are saying they cannot remove all the stuff until they get paperwork- which could take ages! My tenant was a hoarder so there is so much stuff to clear!! Surely they could remove it and put it into storage? I know I could charge them another month’s rent, but I know they wouldn’t pay it!!

Stella

11:48 AM, 21st March 2024, About a month ago

Several years ago I had a situation where a tenant died suddenly and I was advised by a solicitor that I needed to secure the property (for insurance purposes) because I now became responsible for making sure that everything belonging to the tenant was kept save.
On the advice of the solicitor I did the following :
Contacted the local police and informed them that I was changing the locks.
Pinned a note on the door giving a telephone number where I could be contacted.
The solicitor agreed a date and time whereby the property would be cleared and gave the relatives a set of keys which they had to return to his office on the agreed date.
This worked very well for me because the relatives were telling me that it would take them at least 3 months to clear the property.
The solicitor gave them 2 weeks and everything was done and keys returned on the specified date.

angela

13:09 PM, 22nd March 2024, About a month ago

Very helpful. I have recently used this. The tenancy has not ended until notice expires or surrender agreed with tenant's representative (daughter in this case??) . The Official Solicitor's Office is helpful.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-agreements-a-guide-for-landlords/if-your-tenant-dies-without-an-executor-or-a-will

DAMIEN RAFFERTY

10:17 AM, 23rd March 2024, About a month ago

Have you been in the property with or with out the next of kin ?
Could you check the kitchen and clear any food in the fridge/freezer and perishable foods like bread etc !
Take lots of photos and consider a storage container / storage unit
You want to clear the flat and get all the work done to either sell or get back on the rental market.
Do you need a new EPC or EICR, GSC or upgrades doing ?

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