Updated over 5 years ago on . Most recent reply
Deceased FL Tenant - When to Remove Personal Belongings
Hi Everyone -
We have a property in Ft Lauderdale that currently has the belongs of a deceased tenant. I reached out to the "estate attorney" to offer our condolences and asked for a written confirmation that he is representing the estate of the tenant. He said he can't give that written confirmation yet and doesn't know when he can. He said its possible that he may not get appointed as the estate attorney if anyone in the family objects - which they may.
60 days have passed, and our understanding is that FL law allows us to take possession of the unit after 60 days if no one has come forward with written proof that he/she is the court appointed executor of the estate. We also have a clause in our lease (as per FL law) that allows us to dispose of personal belongings without having to store items if tenant passes away and no one authorized by the court claims them or makes arrangements in required time frame. I haven't disposed of anything as of now, meanwhile our property is off the market and we haven't touched the unit out of respect to our former tenant.
BTW, the attorney was a jerk and said we should be happy if we let it sit and collect back rent when he is "ready". I explained to him that we had no idea if this tenants estate was solvent and we wanted to the right thing with the tenants belongings, but couldn't keep the unit empty much longer. He ended the conversation promising to litigate if the belongings were disposed of "improperly". Awesome guy...
Seeking any feedback you may have. I could hire an attorney (is this required?) and moving company to move the belongings. Wondering what others have done or what policies anyone has used in a situation such as this. Thank you in advance for your thoughts!