Tenant has died

[PigletJohn]

A close personal friend, living alone in a rented flat, died just before the end of March. The rent is due 1st April (and has probably already been paid, by standing order).

The landlord has been pressuring the keyholder, wanting to enter and start redecorating, and show prospective tenants round, and wants to move a new tenant in, even though the flat is still filled with possessions, essential paperwork, and valuables.

The executors wish to collect the papers and empty the flat before ending the tenancy. It will probably take about a month. What rights do they have?

Sorry to hear about your friend @PigletJohn.

I’ve no expertise I’m afraid, but hope someone will be along soon who does know. You help so many people on here with knowledge and advice.

RIP your friend.

Can you cal a solicitor for a free half hour advice session? They may not talk about your friend in specifics but give general advice that would be useful.

Sorry for your loss @PigletJohn

I found this advice - coodes.co.uk/blog/i-tenant-death-landlords-advice/

It would seem that a tenancy doesn’t end automatically upon the death of the tenant and the landlord does not have an automatic right to take possession of the property.

Pretty sure the estate becomes the tenant, and normal notice period rules apply.

Note that the moment the banks are told of the death they will freeze the accounts so the executors need to get a bit of a shift on if there are payments that need to be made.

I am sorry for your loss. If England:

Death of a tenant does not end the tenancy. In these circumstances the estate becomes the tenant. If there was a will, the landlord should liase with the executor. If no will it has to be the appointed adminstrator and that will be difficult in the current circumstances.

The landlord has to serve notice as normal which the estate could dispute (although I can't imagine why they would want to). If a rolling tenancy, it is a section 21. If not, there is a mandatory ground for possession.

In short, the executors have every right to take as long as they want at the moment, as the tenancy is still continuing and hence the rent is indeed due. Write to the landlord with free proof of posting, or email at least followed by a phone call, stating all this and that the flat will be cleared ASAP. The executors can also serve their notice as the tenant to bring the tenancy to a formal end - tenants can do that, landlords can't. Take photos when the place is cleared, including meter readings.

this lot know what they are talking about and note the last sentence.

landlordadvice.co.uk/death-of-a-tenant/

Sorry for your loss @PigletJohn - I don’t have any advise from a legal perspective but just wanted to share my experience. My Dad lived alone in a rented flat when he died 3 years ago. We’d never met the landlord as he lives abroad so it was all handled by an agency.
I called the agency and they told me not to pay any more rent as they had his deposit and they would just charge us for each day until we gave the keys back and they’d take it out of the deposit. I actually thought that was very reasonable and we moved his stuff out as soon as we could within a couple of weeks.
So I think it’s pretty harsh for your friends landlord to already be putting pressure to move out. You’d think there would be some kind of human decency out there, especially if his rent has already been paid!

@nowlook kindly replied on my duplicate thread, which I have asked The Towers to remove.

"Sorry for your loss @PigletJohn flowers

The detailed answer will depend on the kind of tenancy it is. Given you mention executors, I'm assuming there was a will?

Briefly, the tenancy doesn't automatically end on death, but becomes part of the estate. Assuming (again) that it's an assured shorthold, best thing practically would probably be for the executor to arrange with the landlord to surrender the tenancy on a specific date to allow possessions to be removed and (for the benefit of the estate) the rental obligation then to stop.

Sounds like the landlord has not gone through any other steps which would allow possession at the stage (notice to quit etc)."

thanks everybods for your help and support

Happy to help @PigletJohn

I'd just like to endorse the suggestions from @mencken which seem to combine legal and practical advice...a rare thing indeed!

Probably not the time or the place, but these situations always make me feel sorry for non-professional executor appointments. When my time comes, I'll be placing the administration of my estate squarely with an accountant and solicitor. I wouldn't want my family to deal with these kind of matters in addition to their grief.

Anyway, I'm a bit quiet at the moment as you might imagine (solicitor), so feel free to PM me if you need anything @PigletJohn

@pigletjohn I am sorry for your loss. Having buried my FIL today and my Aunt 3 weeks ago, somehow it seems worse because of Covid distancing measures. @nowlook that's a lovely offer you've made.