Dealing with the death of a tenant

We have unfortunately had the sad experience of dealing with the death of two of our tenants this year. It is a rare occurrence but one an agent needs to know how to deal with. Would you know what to do if a tenant died?

One thing to consider is that the tenancy does not end just because the tenant has died.  For example, if a couple live in a house and one partner dies, the remaining tenant will become a sole tenant and continue to assume the rights and obligations of the tenancy agreement.

If the death of a sole tenant occurs part way through a fixed term tenancy, the remaining period of the tenancy becomes part of the estate. The estate or their representative can retain possession of the property - but will obviously be liable for rent and bills. If the landlord wanted to bring the tenancy to a close he would need to serve a Section 8 notice applying ground 7.

If the tenant dies and has a periodic tenancy, the tenancy will continue until it is surrendered by the personal representative. The landlord however may want to serve a Section 21 to bring the tenancy to a close.

In reality, most relatives or personal representatives want to get the property cleared and handed back to the agent or landlord as soon as possible. Most landlords are happy to accept a property back even if it is part way through a fixed term rather than pursuing the estate for the rent for the remaining fixed term.

If the tenancy also has a guarantor, the guarantors liability continues after the death of the tenant and would still be liable for any outstanding rent arrears or damage to the property if they could not be covered by the deposit.

If a relative does not have the ability to arrange clearance of the property or does not want to, the landlord may feel it is in their interests to have it cleared so they can arrange re-letting of the property as soon as possible. You must obtain written permission for the relative or personal representative before you remove any items from the property. The costs incurred when clearing the property would then be taken from the deposit. The remainder of any deposit would then be returned to the estate.

Also, remember, just because the tenant has died, this does not give the landlord or agent automatic rights to enter the property and attempting to regain possession without permission would be classed as an illegal eviction.

Generally if an agent or landlord deals with the relatives sensitively, an agreement can be reached to get the property back quickly with as little stress as possible, however if this isn't the case there is a legal back up should it be required.