Both tenants on lease past away

[Desmund McDaniel]

My tenants in my property past away in the same week, they both were on the lease ( older couple) I have since closed up the property and gave a niece access to remove items they may want. It's been 2 months and she hasn't contacted me back or moved items out. What should be my next step because I need to clean this property and get new tenants in.

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Desmund McDaniel:

My tenants in my property past away in the same week, they both were on the lease ( older couple) I have since closed up the property and gave a niece access to remove items they may want. It's been 2 months and she hasn't contacted me back or moved items out. What should be my next step because I need to clean this property and get new tenants in.

Oh, boy. You may be surprised to hear this but I had four renters pass away since November, one couple was incarcerated for identity theft and drugs, and another couple was recently arrested and charged with first degree murder of their infant. That's six rentals abandoned in six months.

I try to head this off by including a clause in my lease that asks the renter to name an "emergency contact" they authorize to remove their belongings in the case of death or incarceration. I ask them to update this any time they renew the lease. Even then, it isn't always accurate. 

If you don't have a named person, you have to reach out to family and see if they'll help. However, you should let them know that this is not an open-ended invitation. I give them 30 days. If they are unable to do it in 30 days, they have a couple options:

• Continue paying the rent/utilities until they can empty the rental
• Pay me to move the items to storage and pay me for moving/storage costs before retrieving the items
• Do nothing and I will consider it abandoned and handle it according to the law

It's very common (in my experience) for family/friends to come pick up some of the items but they leave quite a bit behind and don't do any cleaning. I had an elderly lady die a couple years ago and her niece called to say she was coming immediately to pick up grandma's stuff. She was scheduled to arrive on Monday but never contacted me, so I called her on Tuesday and asked for an update. She said she had already "got everything" and was headed back home. I went to the apartment and discovered she had only ransacked the place and taken a few items of value. We later learned her grandma was known to keep large amounts of cash stashed in the apartment instead of using a bank, so the granddaugher actually just came to rob the place. Death brings out the worst in some people.

Anway, you need to know your state laws. My state allows me to declare the property abandoned after 15 days of unpaid rent. At that point, I can sell the belongings to cover expenses or dispose of them as I see fit.

In my latest case, I had a house full of furniture, clothing, appliances, etc. Friends and family picked up two cars and some of the children's items. I moved everything else to storage and will be selling it off soon. In the situation before that, the house was full of mostly junk, so I held an estate sale to sell as much as I could and then trashed the rest.

You may want to consult an attorney to see what your rights are. You definitely don't want to leave the place sitting for months at a time and costing you thousands in losses. At a bare minimum, move everything into storage where it will only cost you a small amount compared to lost rent. It's already been two months, so I suspect your state would allow you to declare it abandoned and do whatever you want with it.