after death of tenant, HA want a months rent

[LonaMisa]

Hi, my dad died just a few days ago. he was a HA (housing association) tenant and was in receipt of housing benefit.

I notified the HA of his death and have had a letter this morning saying that although his HB ended on the day he died, rent is payable for the month after death, totaling £255, under the terms of the tenancy agreement. There is no money in his estate, he was in a fair bit of debt, and no life insurance, just a small policy covering about 2/3 of the funeral costs. I am a bit taken aback that they are able to do this, and do not give any kind of period of grace at all.

They also state that we have to clear the place out including removing all carpets and getting the light fittings checked (??) does anyone know if there is any help available, maybe some kind of charity or the council, or something? I myself am on Income support and DLA.
thanks

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your Dad.

Technically the Housing Association can charge rent for the rest of the month (or a month after notification of his death) because he or his estate need to give a month's notice.

But, you are not liable for your father's debts and there really is nothing in the estate to pay this (bank accounts/shares/insurance policies) then they cannot chase you for it.

Best thing you can do is call them and try to speak to the housing officer. Tell them that your father left nothing, was in debt and you cannot afford to clear out the property as they have indicated. Once you have taken everything from the property that you want, you could suggest they clear it at their own cost as he has nothing in his estate to pay for the carpet removal/light checks as they have suggested.

You might also be able to get help with his funeral costs.

Speak to the CAB if you need further help

Oh poor you: I am so sorry.

This is where an ounce of customer care would go such a long way. But as they have established they are not even going even pretend to have an appropriate manner, then I think you can be pretty straight too.

You need to write back saying whether your father had a Will, and if so who the executors are (or saying intestate and who will be winding up his estate according to intestacy rules). Confirm date for flat to be emptied.

State that as far as you know, your father had no assets (indeed you have discovered debts) other than flat contents; but that you/executor will be in touch when probate is granted and the proper prioritisation of outstanding debts is known. Under these circumstances, there is no possible way to increase the deceased's debts for whatever this electrical work is.

You can get a funeral grant (forms from Job Centres, I believe) but these cover only a basic funeral and are reduced by value of any funeral plan. They may be able to advise you of any other help available.

Long shot - was your father ever in the Forces (including National Service)? If so, SSAFA may be able to help.

I'm sorry for your loss. We had this when my husbands mum died just before Christmas. Although she was not in debt, she had no money (although she did have an insurance policy that covered the cost of most of the funeral).

I was very shocked at how insensitive people/companies are immediately after the loss of a loved one-everyone wants what they are owed, with no thought to what the family of the deceased are going through.

If I am honest, although we let everyone we could think of know about MIL's death, we were quite tough in telling them that we were not liable for any debts and would not be paying them (not that we had any money to anyway).

With the housing, my husband and his brother cleared what they could (things they wanted, furniture that the grandchildren took for their own flats etc) and left everything else. It just cost too much money to get it removed and the HA were left with it. We ignored a letter from housing benefit requesting money and, to be harsh, there is nothing they can do about it. You are not liable for debts so really your obligation ends after you have told them that your dad has passed.

If I were you, i would concentrate on organising the funeral & getting any keepsakes you want and leave the rest as it will be sorted out.

My thoughts are with you xx

Although strictly speaking the assets of the deceased onclude house contents. If they have any value, they can't be removed only for the family to tell the creditors there's nothing to pay the debts of the estate. In practice though mostly the contents only have sentimental value - but not always.

Hi thanks so much for your informative replies. I think my plan of action will be to take what is useable or sentimental (there is nothing of value) and hand the key back and just leave it to the HA to deal with the cleaning etc, i think they are just trying it on, surely they must have a system in place for people who die leaving nothing, and given that me and my mum were pretty much estranged from him over the last few years (due to his behaviour-he was an alcoholic) , i don't really see why we should have to pay out for cleaners, electricians, rent etc.
I think if they send me the bill I will do what yesmaam and edith say about the debts etc and hopefully they will just deal with it. If not i guess i could offer them a pound a month like my other debts, as its all I can afford.

Technically the rent is due, after all, the house can't be let to other tenants until it is cleared and you wouldn't want them to move someone else in until you've removed what you want to keep.

However, it is your father's estate that is liable and not you, so if there is no money or other assets in the estate, the HA are unsecured creditors and will not get paid. They need to give the estate notice that the money is due though so they can be listed as creditors when the estate is distributed (if there's anything to distribute)

When DP's nan died his father paid the HA for the next months rent to give him time to clear the flat out of furniture. The funeral was a week after she had died so 3 weeks left on the tenancy.

On the day of the funeral the HA were on the phone to Fil asking for the keys back as it was against the tenancy agreement to leave the flat unoccupied. They were told to get fucked.

My son died in February the council want £3000 rent up till Oct 1st I informed govtellusounce about his death also placed his death notice on gov gazette website he was up to date with rent on his death surly I'm nor liable (his father) to pay this

Grateful for any advise

@Bomber1961 you would be better off starting your own thread and asking your question separately. You will get more responses. If you go back up to the top of the screen where it says Legal Matters, you should see a start a new thread button.

This thread is over 12 years old and many people would not look at it.

My advice from above still stands.

Sorry for your loss.

Your sons tenancy has to be ended. It doesn't automatically end on death. That =one month's notice. If his estate( bank accounts sellable assets) has sufficient money in it after paying funeral expenses, it needs to pay off his debts if those creditors chase.

If there is no money, don't pay it for him, the landlord will just have to write off the debt.

We were in a similar position with my grandad. We informed them he had died without having any leaving any money we had to pay for funeral ourselves. The housing association agreed to waive the extra months rent but we had to clear the flat within a few weeks, on checking with them they agreed that the carpets could stay. We found that they have a standard policy but if you explain the circumstances they were flexible on some aspects.