House clearance help after death

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My dad passed away in June and I am in charge of his estate due to being the eldest child.
I pretty much paid for his whole funeral and all associated costs, but now it’s come down to clearing out his house, it was privately rented and the landlord has been very understanding about the length of time it has taken to clear out as much as I can as we lived in different cities.

They are now putting extreme pressure on me to have the house cleared, which of course I understand as they need to re-let it, however after paying for the funeral and having lost my job I am seriously struggling financially and cannot afford to pay the quote they have got to clear the house which is nearly £2000

So my question is are there any charities or help available for someone in my position to get any help?
It is really starting to stress me out.

My siblings are unable/unwilling to help.

It really isn’t as easy as to hire a van and clear it, I am quite literally broke! I have £20 in my bank account, live hours away from where he lived. I have been up there 3 times and cleared as much as I possibly can taking all personal items, however I am also a single parent so trying to look after kids, drive 4-5 hours away then try to clear a house on my own or organise collection is near on impossible.

There is no rent due, he was up to date and had paid his rent 3 days before he died, there is going to be quite a lot of work that needs carrying out so will already lose his deposit which would’ve helped with the costs, but unfortunately I’m running out of time and options.
I will call some charities today and see if they can help, otherwise I’ll just have to inform the landlord that I cannot afford to clear it and ask them to claim against the estate.

I’m sympathetic to what happened to you @Cherrysoup but ultimately it is the landlord’s problem. In your case, you could have perhaps tried small claims court against the former tenants. But if a deceased tenant had no relatives, there would be no one for a landlord to contact.

Like anyone else, such as a bank with a loan, who had a contract with a dead person, costs would fall on you to claim from the estate, if possible. Relatives aren’t liable to cover them.

So sorry to hear this OP. I’m currently selling my late parents property and have a local house clearance company booked to clear it next week.

Do you have probate? Did your dad leave any funds in banks, savings etc? I had to borrow money to pay for my mum’s funeral upfront, but once probate was granted, the funeral costs were reimbursed from her bank account.

It’s a horrible process and hit me hard, and your circumstances sound really difficult. Citizens Advice might be able to provide info, perhaps give them a call. It seems so unfair that you’re being forced to pay for all this on your own. Look after yourself.

But OP you haven't said if you are executor or what the will is, you said it wasn't a real will - what is the "estate" that the landlord could claim against? And have you taken any action (transferring money or starting to clear the flat) that could be intermeddling?

There won’t be any legal ramifications for you. You can just tell them that there is no money in the estate to pay anything.

The estate first pays funeral costs, then debts, then goes to beneficiaries. If there’s no money then you could of said no and council would of organised cremation. You can say no to landlord, I would say he’s welcome to sell anything of value to recoup his costs but there is no money.

If that’s true he will have to swallow lot it, you don’t need to pay.

Sorry I assumed as you’d paid for the funeral that there was no money in the estate. I know you’ve said you removed personal effects but if these have value ( watches, jewellery, art) then you’d be wise to get valued. Then the estate can sell it to you for costs paid for funeral.

There was no will at all, so that is why I said “Executor” in a loose sense of the word, I have had no financial gain from his estate there was a small amount in his bank that went directly to the funeral directors anything else that needed paying has come out of my own pocket, including paying for the funeral.

There is nothing worth selling, the personal items I have taken are photos a small amount of clothing and personal letters etc.

I paid out of pocket for the funeral.

Ok great that you haven't received any money and are not an executor. However if you've been to the house and let yourself in and started taking things- you might have made yourself liable for clearing the whole lot.

Firstly I am sorry for your loss and difficult situation.

Sorry to repeat, but can we be clear he had zero assets?
Nothing in any bank accounts, savings, pensions, absolutely zero?

If so, I would apologise to the LL and say really sorry you are unable to clear the house and all remaining items can be disposed of. No point even saying 'claim against estate' as a) there isn't one and b) he could take that to mean you.

The quicker you say it the better as the LL can then get it cleared, mended and re-let sooner.

I don’t think so. OP could argue checking flat for any documents that would lead to cash to pay for funeral costs. Most people will have something of value small pension, savings account, Current account, ISA. If she’d taken stuff of any value then she could be called, forgive my spelling, a vitreous intromitter and be liable for the value to debtors/ beneficiaries. This is more the case when someone helpfully divvies up the family silverware/ moveable assets to wider family without authority they are liable for full value of those assets but that’s not the case here.

OP I genuinely would message and say unfortunately your Dad had nothing, there was no money in the estate you’ve even had to pay for funeral out of own pocket. He should clear the flat/ sell anything of value and keep the deposit. Kind regards.

From a purely practical standpoint, even if OP has inadvertently “meddled” - would the landlord actually look to pursue her if told he can take anything remaining?

We are currently looking into this and unfortunately there aren't free options available. We have settled on:

1. We have gone through all cupboards, drawers etc and taken what we want
2. British Heart Foundation - will take as much as they can sell and we pay them a small collection fee
3. Anything left over a licensed house clearance company found via council website

We're budgeting £2k for this. If you can't afford this then just go for 1) and leave the rest for the landlord to deal with. Not great for him/her but it is what it is. The landlord can't pursue you if the lease wasn't in your name and there is no money in the estate to pay for removal.

If the landlord has a deposit in a protected scheme then maybe an invoice for clearance or a skip would be grounds for a claim by LL against the deposit, maybe if next of kin note they would not contest this.

It sounds to me like you need to just move on from this. You have gone above and beyond with the cost of the funeral cost which it sounds like you will not get it back.

Unfortunately you are going to have to tell the owner of the rental that your father left no arrangements to cover removing the stuff so he will have to do it. Its shitty but so is being left to pay for the funeral yourself which it sounds like you could ill afford.

You have the things you need to remember your father by and you have no legal obligation to do anything else. The owner of the rental is hardly going to be able to sue your late fathers estate.

The only good thing you could do is not leave the rental owner hanging longer than needed. Tell him its not something you can sort and he will have to empty it himself.

This is a shitty thing to do.

What are OP’s other choices, though? She and her siblings are not responsible for her father’s house and she doesn’t have the money anyway.

Again, just as if the counterparty to any other contract dies (eg someone dies between exchange and completion of a house or after receiving a bank loan) then there will be a process to follow and that process isn’t “getting the relatives to pay”

(Though none of them should take anything of value as this should go to defray his debts - photos and diaries and whatnots should be fine, though)

Well yes it is a shitty thing to do and that is genuinely not my intention, however my hands are truly tied.

I was in a completely different position 3 months ago than I am now, so I am left with very minimal choices.

I’ve spoken to a few of the charities/companies that was mentioned above, most are happy to accept the job of clearing however they of course want items to sell, which again there is nothing worth selling or donating.

All beds were makeshift, with pallets a couple of sofas that are ripped but covered, rusted washing machine and small fridge and a dining table. That is pretty much all the furniture that is in the house, that isn’t built in or belongs to the landlord.
There’s no personal items worth any money at all, he literally would walk past a skip see a car tyre and use it as a chair.

I am going to email the landlord tomorrow, we had already discussed his deposit and agreed I would not be contesting him keeping it as there are some works that would need carrying out before being able to let it again, so it will unfortunately have to be taken out of that.

Do you think this is acceptable?

Dear Landlord,

I have removed all personal items and belongings of sentimental value. The remaining contents of the property are not required by the family. Unfortunately, there are no funds in my father’s estate to cover clearance or related costs, and I am not in a financial position to pay for this myself.
I therefore leave the responsibility for clearing the property with you. I do not object to you retaining my father’s tenancy deposit and/or selling or disposing of any items of potential value in order to offset any costs you incur in returning the property to a lettable condition.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this difficult time.

Kind regards,
Pink

I think that's a very polite and clear message. Don't feel guilty about this OP, you are under no obligation to pay (even if you could afford it).

Landlords have to factor in all sorts of costs when setting rent levels and deciding who to rent to. That means some financial risk is attached to being a landlord. And I say that as someone who (with my ex) rented our house out for over 2 years when we moved abroad.

We had 3 reasonable tenants in a row (though one nicked all the curtains) and then the final one we had to get evicted for owing a huge amount of unpaid rent, far in excess of the deposit, and the place needed expensive specialist cleaning including getting rid of needles from drug use. It wasn't great and cost us a lot of money we didn't really have, but we accepted it was one of the risks that comes with being a landlord.

@PinkPrint how about getting a skip on the front and throwing everything in? The skip company will then throw away. We did this when my grandad died after taking momentous we wanted and putting freebies on FB Marketplace. Everything else went i. the skip. Was about £130

I’ve already sent them the email, so that’s the end of it.

I couldn’t have managed, as I said I’m one person it was just too much.

Well done. I'm glad you realised it wasn't your problem to solve.