Rental property guarantor

[abph]

Dear PH's,

I am needing PH'ers thoughts on the below situation...

My mother died last month in a rental property. I was/am her guarantor. Naively, I thought that her passing would automatically end the tenancy. I am led to believe (from the Estate Agent) that I am now liable for the lease for the duration until end of tenancy. I also believe I need to give formal notice to 'surrender the tenancy', but this is to the discretion of the Landlord?

Is my understanding of this right? Any suggestions how I get out at minimum cost?

Thanks

[BoRED S2upid]

What’s in the agreement you signed? Normally 2 months notice to end it by either party.

[kiethton]

BoRED S2upid said:

Normally 2 months notice to end it by either party.

Unless you're within a contractually bound period e.g. 1 year

[JulianPH]

abph said:

Dear PH's,

I am needing PH'ers thoughts on the below situation...

My mother died last month in a rental property. I was/am her guarantor. Naively, I thought that her passing would automatically end the tenancy. I am led to believe (from the Estate Agent) that I am now liable for the lease for the duration until end of tenancy. I also believe I need to give formal notice to 'surrender the tenancy', but this is to the discretion of the Landlord?

Is my understanding of this right? Any suggestions how I get out at minimum cost?

Thanks

Firstly, sorry to hear of your loss.

Getting to the point, the guarantee you have provided does not end upon the death of your mum. You should serve notice immediately and then reclaim the costs from her estate.

Also enquire if the landlord will accept notice to surrender the tenancy or, there is a protracted amount of time remaining whether you can sub let.

[abph]

JulianPH said:

Firstly, sorry to hear of your loss.

Getting to the point, the guarantee you have provided does not end upon the death of your mum. You should serve notice immediately and then reclaim the costs from her estate.

Also enquire if the landlord will accept notice to surrender the tenancy or, there is a protracted amount of time remaining whether you can sub let.

Thanks Julian!

[jamescodriver]

BoRED S2upid said:

What’s in the agreement you signed? Normally 2 months notice to end it by either party.

Its one month from tenant to landlord and currently upto six months from landlord to tenant,.

You could serve notice and then continue to pay the rent but ask them to market straight away and hopefully a new tenant is found quickly and can move in straight away - you'd have to pay until they do of course - i'd hope, given the circumstances they'd be reasonably sympathethic to your situation..

[NickCQ]

jamescodriver said:

You could serve notice and then continue to pay the rent but ask them to market straight away and hopefully a new tenant is found quickly and can move in straight away - you'd have to pay until they do of course - i'd hope, given the circumstances they'd be reasonably sympathethic to your situation..

Whatever you do make sure you give yourself reasonable time to clear out the property

[Groat]

Here's what a proper landlord does:

Charges rent to date of death.

Agrees with relatives to give them 4 weeks full access to remove what they want of tenant's personal possessions.

Moves on.

Deal with other people the way you'd have them deal with you. Not difficult.

[abph]

Groat said:

Here's what a proper landlord does:

Charges rent to date of death.

Agrees with relatives to give them 4 weeks full access to remove what they want of tenant's personal possessions.

Moves on.

Deal with other people the way you'd have them deal with you. Not difficult.

Shame not all Landlords think alike Groat! Thank you

[anonymous-user]

As others have said, give notice immediately. We are on a monthly periodic agreement, so when we got our exchange date I gave notice to the letting agent on the 12th of this month. Our rent is due on the 8th of the month so they tried to tell me I had to give notice on the 8th of November and then move out on the 8th of December.

I am not sure how legal that is, our letting agent seems to bend the rules at will and try and convince you they are correct.

Anyway, I phoned the landlord direct and he was OK with us giving one months notice from the 12th. Now the agent is telling us we need a "professional clean" and that we really should pay them £288 to do it. The place was a right mess when we moved in, every line of the move in report mentions marks, we actually spent two days cleaning before we moved in!

Thank god we are never going to have to rent again and go through all this rubbish.

[hellorent]

Just on a technicality was the guarantor paperwork served as a "deed" & witnessed, also did you sight the
tenancy agreement before signing guarantor paperwork. A lot of guarantors are not served correctly therefore
possibly void.

Edited by hellorent on Monday 19th October 18:46

[ITP]

Firstly, sorry for the loss of your mother.

There may be implications depending on wether your mother had a will or not.

Notice to end the tenancy can only be given by someone with the legal right to do so. When a tenant passes, the tenancy moves to their estate. Only once you have legal right to deal with estate affairs as executor/administrator can you can serve notice on the tenancy, but not before. If it was a periodic tenancy the landlord has the right to 1 clear month, ending on the day before the payment date. In reality this means it could be almost 2 months depending on the date notice is served, but as has been said, a decent landlord would not hold you to the full notice. But can legally if they choose to.

I hope things go as smoothly and quickly as possible for you.

[surveyor]

Condolences OP

I'm assuming there is a fixed term. The LL has a duty to mitigate their loss.

Make sure that the property is marketed for reletting and at worst case offer to pay rent during the void, and marketing fees.

As others have said do to others as you would do to yourself.

[Sir Bagalot]

Groat said:

Here's what a proper landlord does:

Charges rent to date of death.

Agrees with relatives to give them 4 weeks full access to remove what they want of tenant's personal possessions.

Moves on.

Deal with other people the way you'd have them deal with you. Not difficult.

^^This

[hutchst]

All of the above is subject to the caveat that the property isn't in Scotland.

[anonymous-user]

When you die, do mortgage payments stop? No
Do utility bills stop? No
Does Council Tax stop? No
Do "state benefits" stop? Yes

Why on earth would rent stop unless the tenants are at rock bottom of society and in reality there's no chance of it getting paid in any event?

[joshleb]

rockin said:

When you die, do mortgage payments stop? No
Do utility bills stop? No
Does Council Tax stop? No
Do "state benefits" stop? Yes

Why on earth would rent stop unless the tenants are at rock bottom of society and in reality there's no chance of it getting paid in any event?

Poor guy's lost his mother, amongst everything else going on. Yes, looking back you could say it was an oversight but at the time it's not your first thought is it!

[abph]

Thanks all for your constructive comments. Topic closed.