Tenant Passed Away (Prepaid Rent)

[Brian Eilering]

What an odd phone call to receive.  My tenant (I manage the property) had prepaid 6 months of rent.  His lease started on January 1, 2017.

I just received a phone call from his brother saying the found him in the home yesterday.

I have never dealt with death in one of my homes, I'm not quite sure how that is handled.

[Jeff B.]

Lot's of issues on this. 

• All the belongings would normally be handled by the Abandoned  Property regs for your State, but as family is already aware, I would ask them to remove all the contents within 30 days.
• When one party to a contract dies, so does the contract so the lease is no longer in effect and as soon as the contents are gone you can cleanup and seek another tenant.
• Prepaid rents you hold are 'unearned' and the deposit should be handled as any other move-out.
• In Calif, a landlord must notify the next occupant that there was a death in the unit -- verify your State requirements.  You can do that when you are signing the new lease.