Possessions of a tenant who has passed away

General Landlording & Rental Properties
9yFollow

Possessions of a tenant who has passed away

Dewain J.
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 87 posts · 29 votes

Hello all, 

Anyone know what the legal specifications are (I'm in PA specifically), of what I am responsible for in regards to things left in a unit by a tenant who passed away. I don't have any contact info for family members. And the stuff is just sitting there. Can I discard it (hate to sound callous)...

0Reply
61 views

Most Popular Reply

Chuck Brooking
Annville, PA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 4 votes
9y

If you contact the County Coroner (died outside a hospital or nursing home) or the Funeral Director they should be able to put you in touch with the next of kin, Executor of the estate, or an Attorney handling their affairs. I would keep some notes of your efforts and safeguard the belongings until you know who is the proper person to take possession of them.

3Reply
See this reply in the discussion

10 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Thomas S.
    Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    9y

    There should be some mention of tenants belongings in your state codes. You usually have to store them for a defined period of time before you dispose of them. Read through your copy of the state regulations.

    1Reply
  • Eddie Memphis
    Investor · Englewood, CO · Member since 2015 · 158 posts · 140 votes
    9y

    My Dad passed in February and we couldn't do anything with his stuff without an inventory and a waiting period to see if any debtors came forward to make claims. I would think it's the same to see if any heirs were around. That's what the death notices are for in local papers. It's really a huge pain in the butt.

    As far as discarding, there are services that will do it for you. They take everything and sell what they can. 

    1Reply
  • Kim Meredith HamptonBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker · St Petersburg · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    Please make an effort in the paper and thru social media. Did you have an application with whom to contact in the event of an emergency? 

    Every state is different with regard to abandoned property and death.

    Would be helpful if they had a will and who gets what, etc... never let anyone take any items unless you have documentation 

    [email protected]407-448-6679Podcast Guest on Show The Key to Scoring Discounted Deals in One of America’s Hottest Markets
    Compass | St. Pete514 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
  • Michaela G.
    Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    I don't know about Pennsylvania, but in California you'd have to go through the official eviction process - giving notice etc. 

    Maybe contact the medical examiner in your area and ask if there was a relative as informant on the death certificate and if not, contact the public administrator in your area, who would be responsible for handling estates of decedents without known relatives. 

    Pennsylvania is a closed records state, or otherwise you could order a copy of the death certificate and find out who the relative informant is. 

    Or put his name into veromi.com or peoplesmart.com or intelius.com , without having to sign up and they might give out some names of relatives, who you can then search for.

    2Reply
  • Chuck Brooking
    Annville, PA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 4 votes
    9y

    If you contact the County Coroner (died outside a hospital or nursing home) or the Funeral Director they should be able to put you in touch with the next of kin, Executor of the estate, or an Attorney handling their affairs. I would keep some notes of your efforts and safeguard the belongings until you know who is the proper person to take possession of them.

    3Reply
  • Chris K.
    Attorney · Nashville, TN · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    @Dewain J. 

    In most cases Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 governs disposition of "abandoned personal property." See 68 P.S. § 250.505a. Here is what the Act says about deceased tenants:

    It basically means the landlord needs to follow the traditional estate procedures to remove the items. Sometimes that's easy; sometimes it's not. 

    In cases where it's difficult to find an heir, many landlords move the belongings into a storage unit so that they can rent out the unit while the estate process moves along. Assuming someone opens the estate, you can probably get some compensations for those costs. But it really depends on the facts such as value of the items in question. 

    There is one related question: can you charge a deceased tenant for rent? I can't remember if an appellate court ever settled the legality of this practice, but some landlords imposed what's called a "death penalty." The landlord would basically include in a lease language that upon death, the landlord will gain the right to charge rent equal to certain number of months (usually 6 to one year). 

    Pennsylvania passed a new amendment to the Act that now makes it more difficult for the landlord to impose these death penalties. Note that it doesn't take effect until 60 days from November 2, 2016. So it probably won't apply to this specific situation. But it's worth reviewing for the future: 

    3Reply
  • Rick H.
    Lender · Greater LA/Orange County area, CA · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y

    it's never a problem 'until it's a problem.'

    I suggest you create a rental policy as to how you handle such situations. Thus isn't that much different than a tenant who skips, leaving possessions behind. Your deceased tenant's family could show up and put you in a compromised position.

    Most states that have statutes require items to be marshaled for several weeks. Thus dies not mean that you cannot inventory and relocate items of value and keepsakes to an offsite location, after first photographing the trash or no-value items.

    You'll do the right thing, no doubt and feel better that you did so. 

    1Reply
  • Dewain J.
    OP
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 87 posts · 29 votes
    9y

    Thanks all for all of the great feedback. Think I'll store it for a little bit. 

    0Reply
  • Dewain J.
    OP
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 87 posts · 29 votes
    9y

    @Chris K.

    Thanks for the VERY detailed response lol. It's definitely appreciated!

    0Reply
  • Steve Babiak
    Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    9y

    I have always made it a practice to get emergency contact information for every tenant (because when the rent isn't paid, well that could be considered an emergency ;) ).

    Whenever a tenant is no longer residing in a rental unit, one of the first things you have to do is "gain legal possession". As @Chris K. nicely posted, the next of kin or personal representative or executor are the ones who are in charge of the deceased estate and hence belongings. To find those names, an earlier post gave some ideas; I would also suggest to use google and search for the tenant's name with the word "obituary" to try to see the people who are listed as relatives. And if they do not get the stuff out, you then get to evict. And then the PA Act 129 tenant abandoned property provisions kick in; see links below for that:

    http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/201...

    http://dornish.net/pennsylvania-finally-passes-act...

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free