rent arrears + rent being charged following a tenant's death

[daveydavey]

My mother passed away a few days ago.

 

 

She was a protected tenant in a large housing association / housing trust.

 

 

An officer of the trust has informed me that she was in rent arrears prior to her death,

and that until the flat is cleared rent will continue to be charged.

 

 

She had been living in the property (and another property in the same HA) from the early 70's.

She was the sole tenant, there was no-one else living with her & no-one stands to continue the tenancy.

She was a hoarder therefore it will take some time to clear her rubbish & belongings (little of value).

 

 

She had very little of value, and

i've found recent credit card statements indicating she was in thousands of pounds of credit card debt.

There may be other debts.

 

 

She was in receipt of pension credit & housing benefit.

The rent included heating & hot water, therefore the HB would not have included that, so the HB was not for the full amount.

There may be other HB deductions. I am her next of kin (sole child).

 

My questions are :

 

1) is the HA right to claim

a) rent arrears prior to her death

b) to charge rent while the flat is unoccupied but being cleared of her belongings after her death ?

given the amount of stuff she has hoarded, this will probably take a month or so.

they have verbally offered to allow 'approximately two months' if needed.

 

2) re the credit cards she owes money to (the one i saw was ' m&s credit'). and other loans she may have.

What happens following someone's death?

 

 

I suspect her estate will have very little value.

Do the CC companies claim it from the estate,

chase the next of kin for the debts owed ?

or are they written off ?

 

any help appreciated i have never been in this situation before.

[citizenB]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

 

If there is nothing left in the estate once funeral costs have been sorted then any other creditor is likely to be very disappointed - the family is not responsible for her debts.

 

I will try and find someone who might be able to provide a more complete answer for you..

[stu007]

Hi daveydavey

 

I am so sorry to hear of your loss and this added situation which you could do without at this time.

 

Please be aware that any Housing Benefit ceases on the passing of the Housing Benefit holder which you must inform them of and they may try to recover any overpayment (if any).

 

With the HA most but not all generally have a 2 week rent free period in situation like this for the property to be cleared and handed back to the HA.

 

As such they are correct that they can charge rent until the property and keys are handed back to the HA.

 

What you need to see is a copy of the Tenancy Agreement and a copy of the HA Policy on this but I would try and arrange a meeting with the Senior Housing Officer to discuss how long its going to take and the reason for the property to be handed back and to try and get them to extend the rent free period, even offer to let them see the property.

 

Does this large HA have a Handyman Service for the elderly and disabled (some do check their website) if so you could mention this and what her age was and if they would be able to assist you in clearing the property (that if you would be ok with that).

[stu007]

Hi daveydavey

 

I hope you dont mind but thought id pop in to see how your getting on with this issue?

[daveydavey]

Hi there, many thanks for the reply. It's looking like my mum may have an insolvent estate. As the debts may well exceed the assets in the estate. I'm getting help with the Council funerals officer to arrange a cremation and value the estate. Cannot begin to start clearing the flat until the council officer has been to value belongings, so this has delayed things.

 

 

I'd like to ask, if it's an insolvent estate, does the HA have the right to claim rent from the estate ? same with the credit card co. debt of £3700. My mum was a tenant(protected) for approx. 44 years, there was no deposit system in those days (late 60's/early 70's), 3 months' rent was paid in advance. The finance officer of the HA said straight away to me ' your mother was in rent arrears, & rent will continue to be charged until the flat is cleared'. no mention of rent-free period. I haven't been in touch since. I haven't found a Tenancy Agreement, the document would be ancient now!

 

 

Do I need to apply for letters of administration to deal with an insolvent estate ? I've read online e.g. CAB site that if it's insolvent I would not need to. I do not have money & no access to credit so I'm trying to keep costs to a minimum.

 

 

any help apprec., I went to a free legal advice drop-in but they said they would get someone to email me info (not their area) but haven't heard anything back so far. Cannot afford a solicitor, & there is no legal aid for this apparently!

[stu007]

Hi daveydavey

 

Many thanks for taking the time to give us an update at this time, I will see if I can get some more help for you.

[citizenB]

Some advice for you.

 

Personal debt cannot normally be inherited provided the debt was incurred in the name of the deceased only, usually referred to as ‘sole name’.

 

Great care should be taken in the administration of an insolvent estate i.e.. an estate where the value of the assets in the estate amounts to less than the debts left by the deceased. Creditors, people or organisations to whom money is owed, may hold a personal representative personally liable if correct procedure is not followed.

 

If you are named as the executor in the Will of an insolvent estate I would recommend you should renounce the role.

[citizenB]

It is possible to deal with an insolvent estate informally if the debts are small. In many cases there is not enough money left even to pay for a funeral. Here are two template letters below which you may find helpful to inform creditors if this is situation. This should be done as soon as reasonably possible after the death.

 

[ATTACH]53996[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]53997[/ATTACH]

 

Some more advice for you

[daveydavey]

Hi many thanks for the links; however the template links attachments 53996 & 53997 don't seem to work. would you mind posting the links again (valid links) as I will use them ? There is no will hence no executor, just left to me as next of kin to try to sort out her affairs. Many thanks.

[ericsbrother]

sorry to hear of your loss and the problems you now have.

A deceased persons ESTATE is property, cash and money in the bank, stocks and shares motor vehicles and significant works of art or jewellery. What isnt the deceased's estate is personal belongings, (clothes, jewellery not likely to be significant for inheritance tax purposes) furniture and household effects. Generally people who live in rented accommodation dont have much to worry about when it comes to the "estate" or the contents of a will so I would set about things as follows.

Close all bank accounts and if there is enough money to pay for the funeral use the money for that first. If YOU are on benefits you can claim funeral costs back to a certain extent, the deceased pays for their own funeral if they have the means.

Secondly, inform HA, telecoms provider and utilities provider of the death and give them the registartion number used these days, they dont need to see the death certificate as it is all on the computer system. If there is any money left after funeral costs you use this to pay some of any debts to these in any order you choose. If not, then tough, do not sign any tenancy release or telecoms transfer forms otherwise they will be chasing you for the debt of another, BT are particularly keen on adding your name to the dead persons account and bothering you.

If there is an estate and there is no will, you have to apply for authority to act as executor, this costs but again the estate pays the costs. No will and no estate? then disperse the effects and chattels as either agreed or as best you can. Who has this adn whether they are sold or disposed of is no-one else's business other then the relatives. the order of title goes :~ spouse-children-grandchildren- then parents-uncles/aunts-cousins. No-one else has any rights of claim.

Lastly let the credit card peopls know of the death but do not offer any further information. No estate then tough.

The HA will often claim that the tenancy hasnt ended on death, that is because they claim rent from the council via HB for a couple of weeks and this helps their finances and they dont get done for fraud so why would you help them in this respect. They cant send you a bill for clearing the property either, it is again down to the deceased person, not anyone else. The more you offer to be helpful the more they will take advantage so be clear that you arent going to be paying anything from your own pocket.

[stu007]

Hi daveydavey

 

The 2 links in post#8 are an automatic download but they are MS Word documents so you need to have that installed to use the links.