to think that if you rent a property for a year you are only liable for the rent until you die

[Stopwatching]

That really. If you sign a years lease on a property but die during that year would you be liable to pay for the whole year from your estate?

AIBU to think you don’t have to pay for the whole year?

The contract does not terminate upon death, it passes to the Estate, unless there are provisions in the contract to handle the situation.

If you have signed a 1 year contract then you owe a 1 year contract that your estate needs to keep paying. It's legally binding.

The person responsible for sorting out the estate needs to give notice to the landlord. In reality, the LL will not want an empty property so you would negotiate an early release from the contract.

Look at it the other way... As the tenant has a legally binding contract, the LL CANNOT then rent the property out until the end of the tenancy unless by mutual agreement.

Yes you'd have to pay unless there was a clause in the contract which terminated it upon your death. The landlord can't let the property to someone else until the deceased's contract is terminated. It's up the the executor to terminate the contract early, if possible.

Yes estate is liable as it would be for any other debt. Landlord can't rent out house straight away as it will still be full of the tenants stuff. In reality, what usually happens is the executor and landlord come to some sort of agreement around ending the tenancy and clearing the property in a way that should work for both.

If the deceased didn't have any funds to pay the outstanding rent, the LL will have to write it off. I think council properties only usually give a short time to clear the house. Around two weeks.

I think the estate would be liable until landlord moves a new tenant in.

There are normally break clauses/ notice periods within a lease, check the contract for these.
But yes it is possible the estate will be liable, however most properties are extremely sought after at the moment so even if there aren't you may find you can come to some agreement with the landlord

Lawyer here. I would expect the lease to terminate on death BUT I’m in Scotland and it may be different in your jurisdiction. Take legal advice, try Shelter.

It comes from the estate

Does the lease terminate on death?

Depends on the contract. Normally there’s a break clause at 6 months

Wow I had no idea that death wouldn’t end a 1 year contract.

What would happen if you had no estate.

I assume that means it would also have to stand empty until the end of the year too.

I would think tenant's estate liable to pay rent, but only until property can be re-let, and landlord obliged to minimise their loss ie take reasonable steps to try to re-let ASAP

@Nowherenew you can't get blood out of a stone, so if tenant liable but there's no money, then landlord wouldn't get paid. Like any other civil debt where the debtor has no funds

Take a good hard look at the small print of your lease.

You may find that the lease may be terminated with a stated notice period by the heirs or successors of the tenant, or by the reduction to rubble of the residence by natural disaster or other disaster, or rendered uninhabitable by flood, fire, act of God, etc.

to be honest, I dont think a landlord would pursue a debt for rent after the death of the tenant! I certainly wouldnt!

Look at it the other way round - people might want /need some time to deal with the belongings, too. So doesn't seem strange that the contract would run on.

What are you planning?

I thought the landlords obligations don't cease on their death but tenants did?

You'd be a pretty shitty person to chase a tenants family for the remainder.

The landlord cannot chase the dead person's family for the remainder! It would come out of the estate, if there is any.

In practice, as already stated, there is likely to be a break clause in the AST agreement. In any event, most landlords would take immediate steps to find a new tenant. I certainly would.

If the deceased person's things are still in the house their estate is still liable. The LL can't rent it out again while a dead person's things are still in the house and it would need to be cleaned properly too either by the family of the diseased or the LL have a company in to clean and take the cost from the bond. When my Mum died it took my sister's and I about 5 or 6 weeks to clear it out. Then we gave the LL notice of one month. Mum wasn't on a fixed term contract for a year but if she was her estate would have had to have paid it.

Yes I believe the estate is responsible however as landlords this happened to us when one of our tenants sadly passed away and we gave the family time to clear the property and did not pursue any further payments.

I’m not planning anything shitty like that. I’m wondering whether to sign a years lease when I probably won’t live that long.

I mean the landlord would be a shitty person... not you as the tenant. I'm sorry if you thought that. I'm also very sorry if you have less than a year to live. Could you speak to the landlord?