Neighbour died and home has not been cleaned since

[Frogponder]

Our elderly next door neighbour who lived alone died last month.

We and other neighbours noticed we hadn’t seen him about and his lights were on all night so we called the police who sent in a paramedic who found him. They took the body and told us he’d died a week earlier, which was shocking and sad.

Since then nobody seems to have been into the property, and we’re getting worried about rotting food, flies, rodents etc.

Another neighbour has written to the council and put a letter through the letterbox for the Executor (hoping there is one).

That neighbour is now suggesting we could all go in and just clear out the rotting food ourselves as the back door is unlocked.

Though this would be the quickest way to prevent a possible pest problem my instinct is that we should not go in, it would be trespassing (and unpleasant) and should be dealt with by the council. But the council may not deal with it quickly as they are over-stretched.

Any advice?

You leave yourselves open of being accused of theft if you go in there. I would just stay out of it unless you have an actual pest issue. I'm which case you will hopefully know who is dealing with the house by then.

Still doesn't mean trespassing

Nothing does

Asking a question on MN isn’t aggressive. Some of the responses however are, well, terrifying.

Jesus Christ. No.

Exactly. If he had been dead a week then the property is a biohazard and needs to be cleaned by specialist cleaners.

My NDN died unexpectedly last year. Luckily he had a family member who was able to travel to deal with it. But, if he hadn’t then I wouldn’t have hesitated to round up a few friends to do it. We live rurally in a very close community where he was well liked so it wouldn’t have been difficult to round up the troops.

the back door is open - so they'd be entering the property to do a good deed.

In that process though they maybe leaving themselves open to accusation of theft

Fgs just admit you and your neighbours want a ghoulish snoop around.

Imagine if you lived alone and this happened to you, and your neighbours were gathering for a gossip and contemplating going in to your home to 'clean'. Where's the dignity for this poor neighbour?

My understanding is that in a case like this the local council has to step in and try to trace family. If they can't find someone and there is no will, they will arrange a very basic funeral and hope to get the costs back from the estate. Someone will have to take on the job of being administrator for the estate. I suppose that would be a council officer unless they trace a family member later on. If they did find a will, the executor appointed in the will should be acting, and would probably be the one arranging the funeral too. As the deceased was a homeowner, it sounds as if there will eventually be funds to cover all of this, even though the house is rundown.

Poor old chap. A sad way to end. OP and her neighbours sound like decent people to me, but as others have said, best to let well alone now.

Why are you so obsessed with the 'breaking in'. As has been said, several times. The back door is unlocked.

With respect, most families wait until after the funeral / few weeks after that. My close friend died 15th March, her daughter and I went in last weekend. There was still food in the fridge and washing up on the side, but certainly no flies etc after 2 months. The fridge was still on and things were obviously inedible (been there since Jan 1st when she was admitted to hospital. It’s a tough job. Don’t enter the property.

We were in a similar position last year. We live on a 'neighbourly' street and our neighbour had given us the key to his house in case he was taken ill again (we'd called the ambulance for him previously). When he sadly passed away we had this conversation with our neighbours on the other side and also phoned our local councillor for advice. Three of us went in (so "keeping an eye on each other") and we just poked our head round the living room door to check no food in there and cleaned the kitchen of anything that mice would get at (we have had problems with mice in our terrace). We knew he'd died upstairs so that made things easier. It's an unpleasant thing to do, based on a difficult decision in horrible circumstances.

We didn’t. We went back to the house after my mum died (in hospital), my aunt had been staying there but as the funeral wasn’t going to be for a few weeks after she went home we cleared out the fridge etc - so within a day or two of her dying. We held the wake in her house as well.

If that was his situation, the chances are that he had very little food in there anyway.

Are you new to Mumsnet? It's like a hobby to be as disingenuous and antagonistic as possible to some strange posters who live in Mumsnetland.

I would ring the council on Monday. Our council generally answer the phone, hopefully yours will too.

It's instinct to feel sad for this old man, but you never know what's in someone's past I guess.

If the poor man had been dead for a week, the property will require specialist cleaning and a biohazard cleaning team.

You sound like decent neighbours.

I think you are getting alot of aggression on this thread when a simple "don't think it is wise " would do.

Maybe just close the door!

They don't care. They're worried a pest problem will effect them.

I think you sound very kind OP. Imagine if the poor man knew his home was just left like that. He may well have no family.

And when the family turn up and start asking questions about where all the thousands in cash he kept under the mattress went. They will turn up, my fathers partner had been in the family years, we had done their shopping, cooking, cleaning for years and years, never met one of them. You guessed it, they died and suddenly they arrived on the scene.
The police then start asking questions and a neighbour that didn't go in the house says 'oh no.42 and no.44 only popped in to empty the fruit bowl' that would be a bit awkward.
Do not enter the property, that is a mad idea.

For your own health and safety, it is very unwise to enter. Leave it with the council and keep watch. If you notice any signs of pests, smells, vandalism, breaking and entering, or anything else that’s a public health problem, report it to the council.

This is mind boggling?! You are so obsessed with the notion that a rotten fruit bowl could cause potential vermin, in your house(?) that you're prepared to break into someone's property? How the fuck would his family feel? How unbelievably self absorbed.

A long shot but his death will be announced somewhere. Is it possible to find who is dealing with the body (eg mortuary) and from there get info on who is dealing with the estate and contact them to inform them of your concerns?

What a nasty little comment.