Tenant- Deceased - Landlord difficulties

[Tayla]

State of Pennsylvania
Deceased tenant resided at the premise for 38 years.
Deceased Relative had a year to year lease. Each year commencing on the 3rd of January.
Passed away on April 4 2020.
Notified Landlord on April 14 2020.
Landlord sent a "acknowledge to vacate ". With a 60 day notice attached.
Pennsylvania enacted HB447 ACT 116 which gave an example of how this supercedes any active leasing .

My Uncle is the executor , as the deceased relative was the sole tenant of this apartment.
The estate inventoried and cleaned out the apartment effective April 14, 2020.

The challenge is two fold:
1: Landlord states that two months rent is due to meet the 60 day notice rule. (Basically May and June due)
2: Landlord refuses to accept the keys and advised we must keep the utilities on til end of term.
We were advised to sign the termination notice to get this proceeding forward yet now we wonder if the date to terminate should have been May 31.
We asked to turn in the keys and the Landlord said NO.
The estate is otherwise laid out for ease of probate. Since my deceased hired a service that is shutting off or notifying creditors for final bills or monies due.
The lease though is one that they did not have authority to attend to.
This PA act can be read in different ways. Any help to figure out would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[FlyingRon]

Have uncle (or ideally the attorney handling the estate probate) write a letter indicating the premises are vacated and you will cease paying for the utilities in two weeks. Include the keys. Send them certified to wherever the landlord wants you to send the rent.

 

[Tayla]

Have uncle (or ideally the attorney handling the estate probate) write a letter indicating the premises are vacated and you will cease paying for the utilities in two weeks. Include the keys. Send them certified to wherever the landlord wants you to send the rent.

Thank you Ron for the speedy answer. Unsure if it answered though if the 60 day rent is due (2 months) to end term? We want to abide by any fees outstanding, not trying to be difficult just wanting to be fair to all parties.

 

[Zigner]

State of Pennsylvania
Deceased tenant resided at the premise for 38 years.
Deceased Relative had a year to year lease. Each year commencing on the 3rd of January.
Passed away on April 4 2020.
Notified Landlord on April 14 2020.
Landlord sent a "acknowledge to vacate ". With a 60 day notice attached.
Pennsylvania enacted HB447 ACT 116 which gave an example of how this supercedes any active leasing .



My Uncle is the executor , as the deceased relative was the sole tenant of this apartment.
The estate inventoried and cleaned out the apartment effective April 14, 2020.

The challenge is two fold:
1: Landlord states that two months rent is due to meet the 60 day notice rule. (Basically May and June due)
2: Landlord refuses to accept the keys and advised we must keep the utilities on til end of term.
We were advised to sign the termination notice to get this proceeding forward yet now we wonder if the date to terminate should have been May 31.
We asked to turn in the keys and the Landlord said NO.
The estate is otherwise laid out for ease of probate. Since my deceased hired a service that is shutting off or notifying creditors for final bills or monies due.
The lease though is one that they did not have authority to attend to.
This PA act can be read in different ways. Any help to figure out would be appreciated. Thank you.

Tayla -

You cannot simply cut and paste others' work without proper attribution. I reported it and it will be replaced after admin. has had the opportunity to edit the post. I have removed the plagiarized text from my reply.

 

[Tayla]

Tayla -

You cannot simply cut and paste others' work without proper attribution. I reported it and it will be replaced after admin. has had the opportunity to edit the post. I have removed the plagiarized text from my reply.

Mea culpa-
Duly noted.
Will review the parameters of postings and citings.

 

[zddoodah]

I'm quoting from the stuff that "Zigner" quoted.

My Uncle is the executor

If the deceased only died on April 4, it is unlikely that your uncle is the executor. He might be nominated in the deceased's will to serve as executor, but he won't actually be the executor until the court appoints him to serve in that capacity. Has that actually happened?

The estate inventoried and cleaned out the apartment effective April 14, 2020.

I assume you meant that your uncle did this.

Landlord refuses to accept the keys and advised we must keep the utilities on til end of term.

"We"? Other than your uncle being the nominated executor of the estate of the deceased (who I guess was also a relative of yours?), it's not at all clear to me that, as a legal matter, this has anything to do with you, and nothing you've posted suggests you have any obligation to do anything. And, if your uncle has not yet been appointed to serve as executor, then it's unlikely he has any obligations either.

We were advised to sign the termination notice to get this proceeding forward

Advised by whom? Further to my prior comment, I can't see why you would sign anything, and I certainly wouldn't do so except on the advice of an attorney.

Any help to figure out would be appreciated.

If, in fact, your uncle is or becomes executor of the estate, he should seek advice from a local probate attorney.

I'm curious, though: did the deceased person have significant assets in excess of debt?

 

[LdiJ]

Thank you Ron for the speedy answer. Unsure if it answered though if the 60 day rent is due (2 months) to end term? We want to abide by any fees outstanding, not trying to be difficult just wanting to be fair to all parties.

That is fine, but its wrong for the landlord to attempt to require the estate to continue paying utilities when the unit is vacated, and by not accepting the keys the landlord is potentially extending the notice period.

Follow Ron's advice and then pay for whatever months of rent you feel is fair, assuming the estate is solvent enough to do so. The landlord would be totally SOL if the estate was insolvent.

 

[Tayla]

That is fine, but its wrong for the landlord to attempt to require the estate to continue paying utilities when the unit is vacated, and by not accepting the keys the landlord is potentially extending the notice period.

Follow Ron's advice and then pay for whatever months of rent you feel is fair, assuming the estate is solvent enough to do so. The landlord would be totally SOL if the estate was insolvent.

okay. Thank you each.

 

[Stephen1]

Here's a shameless plug for getting your state law changed. WA State (and I assume some others) has a relatively recent change to the Residential LL-T Act that addresses most of the issues mentioned here. I became aware of it after I had a tenant die. Take a look at it and ask your legislators to adopt something similar. Perhaps your state LL Assn could lobby for it. WA RCW 59.18.590 and RCW 59.18.595.

It wouldn't help you right now because the WA law requires certain coordination with the tenant while he was still alive. But for that next time it might help. For all my solo tenants I have now coordinated with them.