First month as a landlord, and a tenant passed away

[DJ Cummins]

So we have collected rent one time now, and one of our two existing tenants passed away last night. She passed away at the hospital, and it was nothing of our fault. I feel terrible for her and her children/grandchildren. This was not expected. That being said, is there anything i should be doing on my end? I am just not sure what to do right now. Still in shock. I found out last night, literally as i was getting a root canal at the dentist office. I just saw her a couple days ago. Life is so precious.

[Randy E.]

@DJ Cummins was she living alone or are their other tenants in the unit?  If there are other tenants, you have to decide whether they can assume her lease and if not, how much time to give them to move out.  If there are not other tenants in the unit, initiate contact immediately with whoever is executing her will.  Hopefully, they will move quickly to get her stuff out of the unit.

Any security deposit refund should be paid by check payable to her estate, not payable to any individual.  You haven't seen her will (if there is one) and you have no idea who should receive the proceeds from her estate.  The best way to protect yourself is to make the check payable to "The Estate of TENANT's NAME".

Good luck.