Have you ever have a tenant die?

[Randall Jacobs]

I just found that the  single tenant on the lease died about 4 months ago on my property. Any suggestions on do's and don'ts? 

Yes it has been verified.

We contacted the next of kin  stated on the lease. 

She prepaid for a year and no one ever contacted us. 

The house is full of personal possessions. 

There is evidently more to this story than I am aware.

Nearest kin is very slow to act. 

The plot gets interesting.  8)

[Lynn McGeein]

Be careful as if it is prepaid for a year it might be an estate issue where lease is still good and you'll have to figure out who has right to access until it's finished or if you can return rent to estate and end lease. When our tenant passed away recently, the lease stated it ended at her death (Section 8, so part of their program), but we granted a special exception for an additional month for the family to put things in order. We did get a letter signed by her relative that they would follow all lease terms and HOA rules and that they were not considered Tenants under the terms of the exception.