Tenant has died but have no keys to property

Floxxie

Thrugelmir wrote: »

There's no rent payable. The tenancy was granted to the Uncle and Aunt for the duration of their lives.

Sounds like a licence to me and not a tenancy.

PasturesNew

minnie123 wrote: »

... her other family have keys to our property, they obv wish to make no contact with us....

You need to contact them. Go out of your way to contact them. If they've been visiting her etc then they'll probably be organising a funeral etc. Are they? Who is organising the funeral?

You need to contact them, get in touch, get on speaking terms with them to ascertain their intentions etc.

Did she leave a will? Probably not.

But, between you and them, who have keys, you need to resolve this amicably.

Neither you or they have "first dibs" on sorting out the house/contents because you own it and they have the keys. So you need to work together to get this sorted.

This isn't worth looking at "the legal side of things" as, to me, it's clean cut. They have keys, they must've been in contact with her (a lot). It's your house and you want it back now.

So you need to get in contact with them, arrange to meet at the house, get a copy of the keys from them and help them to decide what to do with her belongings and the funeral - not as a landlord, but as a family member.

Trying to find "the right/legal thing" to do in this situation will just delay things and queer potential relationships going forward with these other people who are 'family'. So, leave all the legals out of it and pick up the phone and speak to them.... as family members, not as landlords/house owners.

Doing the right thing, with getting in touch, helping them clear/sort the house and attending the funeral etc, will go 99.9% towards going down any other avenues you might construct.

You might find out they were over there today tidying up auntie's things.... and there's the chance they might not even know who owns the house/who her landlord is.

G_M

I don't think this sounds like a tenancy, though of course we only have a few brief details. What exactly was agreed? How? What has been written? Or signed? What has (ever) been paid?

Assuming this was a licence to occupy (for life) then I believe you can simply enter/repossess. But this is not my area of expertise so I add a caveat to that!

Personally I would make overtures to the family and try to build bridges. If this can all be done amicably, so much the better. Find out who the executers are, and agree a timeframe from them to remove belongings etc from the property. Since you've not been getting rent, I assume there's no desperate rush so you can take an understanding approach.

i would, however, ask politely but firmly for the keys. Or if that causes issues, then start by getting a copy of the keys.

The alternative of course is to simply get a locksmith to break in and change the lock, and then as above, make arrangements for the Executers to collect belongings.

Conversely, if there is a tenancy, then the Executers are now responsible for it by law. Any rent under that tenancy, and other obligations (eg utilities) are now the Executer's responsibility.

The tenancy can be ended by mutual agreement (get it in writing), byt the Executers serving notice (according to the terms of the tenancy, or by you serving a S21 and applying to court.

Obviously the first of those options is simplest.

ps - if the property is empty following the death of the occupant, you may find that council tax is 100% rebated. In my late mother's case, we did not have to pay council tax until 6 months after Probate was granted (which itself took 6 months, so a year in total.

this was dependant on the property not being re-occupied or sold during that period. Check your council website, or ring and ask.

Keep_pedalling

if the written agreement was to have occupancy for the rest of their lives then it has ended, and you have the right to enter the property. If you can't trace the keys then yes get a locksmith to get you in and change the locks.

You can't really do anything with the contents until you find out who is dealing with the estate, and if someone is alread doing so the care home should know. If no one is doing so then I think your first step is to see if she left a will.

Is your father her nearest living relative or does she have siblings?

BobQ

Have you tried writing to the Executors at the house? It may be that someone visits regularly to check for post.

minnie123

The family that have been seeing her at the home is her sisters daughter so she is her niece. I have left my contact details but they have not contacted me.

I have always go the feeling they dislike our side of the family as the think we ripped them off by buying the house but this was a decision made between my great Auntie and Uncle and my Father I don't really know how it came about.

The paperwork I have says Tenancy agreement and it says "the landlords shall let and the tenants shall take the land and dwelling house situate and being number 1 .......... for the term of the joint lives of the tenants.

minnie123

PasturesNew wrote: »

You need to contact them. Go out of your way to contact them. If they've been visiting her etc then they'll probably be organising a funeral etc. Are they? Who is organising the funeral?

You need to contact them, get in touch, get on speaking terms with them to ascertain their intentions etc.

Did she leave a will? Probably not.

But, between you and them, who have keys, you need to resolve this amicably.

Neither you or they have "first dibs" on sorting out the house/contents because you own it and they have the keys. So you need to work together to get this sorted.

This isn't worth looking at "the legal side of things" as, to me, it's clean cut. They have keys, they must've been in contact with her (a lot). It's your house and you want it back now.

So you need to get in contact with them, arrange to meet at the house, get a copy of the keys from them and help them to decide what to do with her belongings and the funeral - not as a landlord, but as a family member.

Trying to find "the right/legal thing" to do in this situation will just delay things and queer potential relationships going forward with these other people who are 'family'. So, leave all the legals out of it and pick up the phone and speak to them.... as family members, not as landlords/house owners.

Doing the right thing, with getting in touch, helping them clear/sort the house and attending the funeral etc, will go 99.9% towards going down any other avenues you might construct.

You might find out they were over there today tidying up auntie's things.... and there's the chance they might not even know who owns the house/who her landlord is.

Thank you they are fully aware who the landlord is they hate my Father as he bought the house. I do want to attend the funeral I know the funeral directors she is at so I can also leave my contact details for the family there. I was at her bedside on her last day for hours I hope they know that she looked after me and my siblings a lot when we were little and although we didn't have much to do with her the past few years there was no bitterness between us.

If we hadn't of got the council tax letter and looked for her for days and days calling doctors, hospitals old friends etc... I would never had chance to say goodbye. I don't think they have any intention of getting in touch.

PS my Fathers house is on the same road a few houses up and they all know this. I feel like they are trying to make things difficult. It's hard for me as it's my Dad that should be dealing with this but he can't as he's so ill.

minnie123

I feel like I need to get in and check the house - has everything been turned off etc etc. I'm paranoid about who could have keys. also my Uncles war medals are in there that he left to my father in his Will as he was the closest thing he had to a son (my nans brother) but they obv were to stay with my auntie until her death - so paranoid they will just take them.

minnie123

Also just to be clear this is my great Auntie and Uncle, my Uncle was my Nans Brother and they never had children of their own. Therefore her family that are dealing with this (her sisters children) are not related to me.

minnie123

Ideally I would like to enter the house to check it change the locks and make secure, leave all her contents in the house and pass my info on to the funeral directors for her other family. But also i'd like to get things sorted as swiftly as possible as my father has had so many strokes if we could now rent the property out for an income that will really help go toward paying for the care he needs.

I just don't want to do anything illegal.

I know there is a minimum of £5k in her estate as my grandfather passed away last July and his legacies were only paid after Christmas and £5k went to her.