disgusted with landlord

sophlou

hi all, i hope sum1 can help me. my dad died not too long ago, we had no contact for alot of years, didnt even know were he was living, until the police notified us. anyhow we finally got hold of his house keys from the police in which we went to the property to see a to let sign in the garden, and the place was completely empty. contacted the letting agents, who didnt have a clue that my dad had passed away, i asked were my das belongings were, she rang the landlord, who said he had it in storage. eventually after much peeing about on there part, we went to see landlord, there wasnt much there at all, i asked where his clothes were, he said he got rid, there was no tv, comp etc, even tho there was a computor desk and chair there.in the end i took paperwork, and bits and bobs. to be hponest i was still numb about his death. there is evidence that he had several electrical items, laptop, radio etc, bank statements shows dd for broadband and phone. as you can imagine i am absolutely disgusted with this nasty piece of work. oh and there was an empty drill case, and more. we have been in toch with agents who said he did remember seeoing a tv/dvd, but no other items, and that we can go and pick that up
,how kind of him eh! my dad was dead in that house for several days on his own before he was found, and his stuff wer thrown in a lock up 3 weeks later. i agree there was no evidence that he had family somewhere, but surely, if a landlord thought that he had just upped and left all his stuff behind, u would inform the police, right? i believe this person has sto,le the items to sell on/keep for his self, whichever. no body seems to be able to help me on this, im soo upset, knowing that he passed away on his own and then robbed. please, please can anyone help me on this, is there any way i am able to sort this out, im not bothered about the stuff, its how it was taken!


much appreciated

[Deleted User]

Sorry for your loss SophLou. Even though you were not in touch recently with your dad, this must be very hard to go through (perhaps even worse, sometimes I think complicated relationships can make grieving especially difficult).

I think it might be best to put aside the issue of the landlord for a while, until you have started to heal a little bit, as it's very hard to separate out the emotions of your loss, and the emotions of whether the landlord has done the right thing or not. I would really recommend talking to someone about this, for example:
http://www.cruse.org.uk/

pyueck

Hi,

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Are you acting as executor for his will, as this is the responsibility of that person.

I personally think you are being a bit harsh on the landlord. Maybe best to calmly speak to the landlord about what the events were after his death.

From the sound of it his stuff has been put in storage which appears totally reasonable if they landlord was not able to find a next of kin, I don't really see why the landlord would inform the police, or what you expected them to do about it.

I think you should be careful about jumping to conclusions about somebody stealing anything without evidence. Take time to calm down and speak in a calm manner to the landlord, going in accusing them of stuff will not help you at all.

If you genuinely have evidence something was stolen, then tell the police, however if somebody has died in a house with no next of kin the landlord is totally entitled to put those items in storage and eventually dispose of them. If you had not been in the house before he died I don't really see what evidence you have for the landlord stealing anything, maybe he sold or disposed of the TV before he died, the reality is you have no idea.

Best of luck.

fed_up_and_stressed

theft is a police matter ... i am assuming you have spoken to the police have you ?

Guest101

Second this.

The Landlord clearly hasn't gained possession through the courts, the notice would be served on the estate.

This is clearly theft.

jjlandlord

Death of the tenant does not end the tenancy.
As such the landlord was not entitled to clean the property before he took the necessary steps to end the tenancy (did not have to be through the courts).

As for the goods: I think calling it 'theft' would be jumping to conclusions. More likely it might be either nothing or interference with goods.

pyueck

jjlandlord wrote: »

Death of the tenant does not end the tenancy.
As such the landlord was not entitled to clean the property before he took the necessary steps to end the tenancy (did not have to be through the courts).

As for the goods. I think calling it 'theft' would be jumping to conclusion. More likely it might be either nothing or interference with goods.

Jj we don't know what steps the landlord has taken the end the tenancy or have any evidence to comment on it's legality.

The OP should also decide whether they want to act as executor or more likely administrator of the estate before they are in a capacity to act on behalf of the deceased's estate.

martinsurrey

jjlandlord wrote: »

Death of the tenant does not end the tenancy.
As such the landlord was not entitled to clean the property before he took the necessary steps to end the tenancy (did not have to be through the courts).

As for the goods. I think calling it 'theft' would be jumping to conclusion. More likely it might be either nothing or interference with goods.

Might just add to that, the estate of tenant is still liable for the rent, so bare that in mind, the estate would have to give notice or the landlord evict, or agree to end early.

I doubt the landlord has come out of this better off than he would have done by chasing for the rent...

jjlandlord

pyueck wrote: »

Jj we don't know what steps the landlord has taken the end the tenancy or have any evidence to comment on it's legality.

Well OP suggests that it all happened within 3 weeks... Quite hard to end a tenancy in that time frame.

pyueck

martinsurrey wrote: »

Might just add to that, the estate of tenant is still liable for the rent, so bare that in mind, the estate would have to give notice or the landlord evict, or agree to end early.

I doubt the landlord has come out of this better off than he would have done by chasing for the rent...

Exactly why the OP may want to think about acting as executor or administrator, although doing so does not necessarily make them liable. Everybody in the event of a death should be careful about what they take as until there is probate granted and a will or intestate agreed the property (and any liabilities) are nobodies but the estates.

Poppie68

Just out of curiosity what happens to rent?
Is rent still charged? I know if housing benefit is paying that stops, so would the estate then be liable for any rent owed to the LL for the time between death and ending the tenancy legally?