Tenant Death - what are my rights?

[Adam Hurst]

I had a tenant die in my property from alcoholism. He had 11 months left on his lease. Am I entitled to the rent payments as long as the property is vacant? What should I know? What about damages and clean up? Looks like he had a rough last few months. He was a great tenant. One of the most respectful and honest.

Issues I see are getting in touch with the family or executor of the estate to collect.

[John Warren]

@Adam Hurst I had this happen in one of my suburban properties here in Lyons in the Chicago area, and my first call was my real estate attorney. A lot of this is governed by local law. The lease is probably still enforceable on his estate, but does his estate really have any money? Is that worth your time? I doubt it.  The reality is, your best case scenario is that the family cleans out his unit ASAP, but most likely that won't happen right away. In my case, I negotiated with the family to use his security deposit so that I didn't have to involve them. I trashed everything they didn't want and I did a quick re rent.