Husband of tenants died, wife was given time to pay - now she is refusing to communicate

Hurdler

supa34 wrote: »

It depends on husband's will as to who gets all the money in the bank. So until his will isn't executed she can't have access to his account. She probably just needs time for all that to sort out. Same with the business, it will change hands to other business partners or siblings etc. Best is to go down and talk to her. Is she is going to council for housing it's best to work with her as going down the legal route will just mean more costs.

Unfortunately out in Australia at the moment so will be back at the end of the month. Will try and head down in February although will need to get the contact details from the managing agents ... although I can pop in and see the neighbour. Although hopefully in the next week we should know more.

Red-Squirrel_2

Hurdler wrote: »

I could have cancelled the tenancy there and then and pulled the rug out from under them (they were very concerned about that at the time). I did not.

Er...no you couldn't.

Hurdler

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Er...no you couldn't.

Ok I could have given them notice as soon as the bungalow became mine and because they had been exemplary tenants there was no point in doing that. My apologies.

The point is... up to this point the couple had been great tenants and were there with a personal reason for being in this particular property. I should add - I did instruct the MAs to let her know if she wanted to stay, she absolutely could (although I have no idea how well she got on with his aunt next door but I guess they did!)

So yes she is going through a lot, as indeed we ALL have during bereavements - My last instructions to the managing agents were that we give her to the 22 Feb to get all caught up and to give her intentions as to whether she was going to (is able to?) stay on if she wants or she gives her notice to leave.

Now it seems that with this breakdown of communication that legal proceedings are going to go ahead and without knowing why she has stopped talking to them to keep them informed... it's anyone's guess why she is seeing the council.

Anyway - thanks for the responses, especially those who have given some new bits of advice that I will chase up with the managing agent.
Will update when I know more.

hb2

You speak as if legal proceedings are out of your control, but this is not the case. It is entirely up to you to decide whether you want to take action now or wait until after 22nd Feb (as this is the date you initially gave the widow).

Hurdler

hb2 wrote: »

You speak as if legal proceedings are out of your control, but this is not the case. It is entirely up to you to decide whether you want to take action now or wait until after 22nd Feb (as this is the date you initially gave the widow).

I feel I should honour this ... I know from seeing how my own mother was incapable of functioning after dad died that she needs a bit of time to get herself sorted, and she appeared to be very grateful I was letting her have the time - but somewhere along the line she seems to have gone to ground and that is a worry.

I HOPE that she is seeing the council to see if she qualifies for any type of help, and an 11 hour time difference for at least the next week is really not helping!

However, I think if she refuses to even communicate with them by 22 January as to what her plans are to cover the rent, then that goodwill gesture seems to be unfounded. At the end I felt I was doing her a favour by taking the pressure off her a bit.

Also agree I need to go down and sort this out personally or at least meet both parties to see where the hell we are.

getmore4less

From what has been posted on here numerous occasions.

If you have accepted payment from her for rent won't that have created a tenancy for her even if she did not have a written one.


If the deceased was the tenant any rent due would be from the estate not the wife.

Hurdler

getmore4less wrote: »

From what has been posted on here numerous occasions.

If you have accepted payment from her for rent won't that have created a tenancy for her even if she did not have a written one.


If the deceased was the tenant any rent due would be from the estate not the wife.

Yes - good point... She went to the bank at some stage after informing them that he had died, and the account being frozen and money was released to her somehow so... umm yeah. I assume as well as rent, she needs to pay for utilities... food even.

I sent a barrage of questions gleaned from various responses to the MA - alas it is evening back with you guys so I don't anticipate a response back until sometime on Monday now.

Will report back then.

Pixie5740

Hurdler wrote: »

Yes - good point... She went to the bank at some stage after informing them that he had died, and the account being frozen and money was released to her somehow so... umm yeah. I assume as well as rent, she needs to pay for utilities... food even.

I sent a barrage of questions gleaned from various responses to the MA - alas it is evening back with you guys so I don't anticipate a response back until sometime on Monday now.

Will report back then.

No actually because if she wasn't named on the tenancy agreement she never owed rent because she was never a tenant. Yet because you have cajoled her into paying rent she did not owe is created a tenancy with her....a new Contratual Periodic Tenancy.

I don't know why the management agency has to see a solicitor about serving notice because they agency should be quite capable of issuing the notice themselves on your behalf.

Hurdler

Pixie5740 wrote: »

No actually because if she wasn't named on the tenancy agreement she never owed rent because she was never a tenant. Yet because you have cajoled her into paying rent she did not owe is created a tenancy with her....a new Contratual Periodic Tenancy.

I don't know why the management agency has to see a solicitor about serving notice because they agency should be quite capable of issuing the notice themselves on your behalf.

I've added this to the list of things I want the MA to answer. When they first informed me that he had died, they only said "the payment will be a little later than usual" and then the rest of the story dripped in from there - the row with the brother-in-law, the family rifts, the account frozen and then money released... so ... definitely a trip there once I fly back to see both of them (presumably despite having a managing agent, I can actually meet with her myself)... to get to the bottom of this. If she has a connection to her husband's aunt next door and actually wants to stay, then we need to work together to find out if she can afford to stay and how she can until his probate is sorted out.

Elinore

Please just be aware you have named the former tenant, the neighbour (Aunt) and the town the house is in across your posts and listed the nationality of the wife and dates they were away.

Identification from such information by friends, acquaintances or family is very unlikely but with such information it could be done.