Tenant died with 3 months left on their lease

[baylor3217]

What is the name of your state?texas

unfortunately I had a tenant pass away likey from covid. They spent a month in icu.
They were upper 60s. Only person living there.
Their emergency contact is their ex wife.

she is not on the lease other than the emergency contact.She paid me for the remaining rent.

I believe her intent is to get the possessions out of the house over the next 3 months but will confirm. I believe she has his key.

what steps do I need to take? This sounds like it could become a challenging situation. I’ve never had this happen before so want to ensure I take all appropriate actions legally.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?texas

unfortunately I had a tenant pass away likey from covid. They spent a month in icu.
They were upper 60s. Only person living there.
Their emergency contact is their ex wife.

she is not on the lease other than the emergency contact.She paid me for the remaining rent.

I believe her intent is to get the possessions out of the house over the next 3 months but will confirm. I believe she has his key.

what steps do I need to take? This sounds like it could become a challenging situation. I’ve never had this happen before so want to ensure I take all appropriate actions legally.

Is she the executor of his estate? You did accept money from her, so whoever is in charge of his estate would have the right to enter the property at will for the next 3 months.

 

[adjusterjack]

She paid me for the remaining rent.

Good. That's the important thing.

From a "legal" standpoint you don't really have to do anything until the end of the lease period when you have to address the security deposit.

Until then, my advice as a former landlord, is:

1 - Keep in touch with the ex.
2 - Make sure she knows that she has your consent and this is not adversarial.
3 - Drive by and look the place over about once a week. Check for broken windows and weeds, signs of neglect, etc.
4 - Since nobody is living there, arrange for an inside inspection once a month.
5 - When the time comes after move out, do a final inspection, take photos, adjust the security deposit for damage as appropriate, and make the refund check out "To the Estate of ____________." That's important. The estate is a separate entity and the estate is now your tenant. If you make the check out to anybody else the estate can come after you for it.

Here's the TX security deposit statute:

https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/2019/property-code/title-8/chapter-92/subchapter-c/

Consider offering a partial rebate if she can get the place cleaned out sooner than 3 months. Yes, you'll be giving some money back. There's a potential vandalism issue when properties remain unoccupied for long periods of time so the sooner you get it back the sooner you can get it rented out.

 

[zddoodah]

I believe her intent is. . . .

Why merely "believe" this? Why not confirm her intent and maybe get it in writing?

what steps do I need to take?

For starters, just because this guy's ex-wife is his "emergency contact" doesn't mean she has any legal right to enter his home or take possession of his property. Has this woman been appointed as executor of his estate? Do you have any family contacts for the guy? You need to be at least a little bit careful about this because an ex-wife has no rights of inheritance unless she is named in the deceased's will.

 

[adjusterjack]

Good point. The estate, through it's court appointed representative, is what the LL has to answer to.

 

[LdiJ]

I have an interesting anecdote on a similar situation. Our firm had an independent contractor who operated as someone who went to people's homes or businesses to do their taxes. I guess you would call him a concierge tax professional.

Anyway, my boss got a telephone call about a month ago from his apartment complex. He had died unexpectedly and my boss was listed as his emergency contact...which seriously surprised my boss. Interestingly, the apartment complex was kind of pressuring my boss to take responsibility for clearing out the apartment. My boss did go in the apartment to attempt to obtain all of the tax records to preserve them for the clients, but declined to do more than that.