What happens when a tenant dies with no family

[steffb503]

I am in NY. I have a tenant on a month to month lease. He is currently in the hospital. What happens to his belongings if he dies? He has no family and the emergency contact name and number will not get back to me.

 

[Ohiogal]

His belongings would go to his estate.

 

[xylene]

Slow down cowboy, no one is dead just yet.

If dies, hire a lawyer. It really won't be that bad.

PS have you tried asking your tenant for additional contact info? (if that is medically possible)

 

[Stephen1]

Check your state laws to see whether you have anything similar to what I have in WA State.

There is a section in the WA LL-Tenant Act that allows a tenant who lives alone to designate in writing a person to act for the tenant in the event of the tenant's death. This allows the LL to allow that designated person to access the tenant's dwelling unit, remove the tenant's property, receive refunds of amounts due to the tenant, and dispose of the tenant's property consistent with the tenant's last will and testament and any applicable intestate succession law. This speeds things up for the LL.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

This happened to me; the tenant did have family but it turns out he was estranged from them and they wanted nothing to do with him or his items when he passed away (I suspect they didn't want to assume the cost of a funeral). I was told to go through the steps of normally evicting him once rent was owed and at the end point his items were simply placed at the curb for disposal (in Georgia we do not need to store these during an eviction).

He ended up being buried in our "potters" field with only a number (no headstone) to mark this.

Gail

 

[Just Blue]

This happened to me; the tenant did have family but it turns out he was estranged from them and they wanted nothing to do with him or his items when he passed away (I suspect they didn't want to assume the cost of a funeral). I was told to go through the steps of normally evicting him once rent was owed and at the end point his items were simply placed at the curb for disposal (in Georgia we do not need to store these during an eviction).

He ended up being buried in our "potters" field with only a number (no headstone) to mark this.

Gail

That is just so sad...

 

[adjusterjack]

I am in NY. I have a tenant on a month to month lease. He is currently in the hospital. What happens to his belongings if he dies? He has no family and the emergency contact name and number will not get back to me.

NY has no statutory provisions for a tenant's abandoned property. Landlords are expected to anticipate contingencies and address them in a lease or rental agreement or act reasonably when unanticipated contingencies occur.

I suggest, at the very least, you obtain a mailing address for the tenant's contact person so you can send appropriate notices when and if the time comes. Better yet, talk to the tenant about what happens to his property if he no longer can live in the rental.

 

[steffb503]

Thanks everyone. I will see if I can get any more info from his friend.