Information on the rights and obligations of landlords after a tenant passes away

Q: I rent out several houses in Ottawa. A tenant of mine died a couple of weeks ago. His daughter had been staying with him in the house for a few months to care for him during his illness, and she still remains in the unit. I’m not sure when the daughter is planning to leave and I don’t want to bother her while she is grieving. Although the rent had been kept up to date, I don’t think the daughter will be able to pay the rent on her own. What should I do? A: apart from a tenant’s spouse, a deceased tenant’s next of kin does not have the right to take over the tenancy. The Residential Tenancies act provides that if a tenant of a rental unit dies and there are no other tenants, the tenancy shall be deemed to be terminated 30 days after the death of the tenant.

during the 30-day period after the tenant’s death, the landlord must give the executor or administrator of the tenant’s estate reasonable access for the purpose of removing the tenant’s property. If there is no executor or estate administrator, the landlord must give a member of the tenant’s family reasonable access. The landlord does have the right to immediately dispose of property that is unsafe or unhygienic, but presumably that is not an issue here because the daughter is living in the unit.

If the tenant’s estate or heirs do not remove the property, then after the 30 days have passed, the landlord may sell, use or dispose of any of the remaining property of the deceased. However, if in the next six months the executor (or if no executor, a family member) claims property that the landlord has sold, the landlord must pay the proceeds of the sale to the tenant’s estate less any arrears of rent and the reasonable out-of-pocket expense of moving, storing, securing and selling the tenant’s property.

If the daughter had been staying with her father prior to the father’s death, she can stay in the unit until the 30-day period ends. even if she had not been living there before, she could stay at the apartment while sorting and gathering her father’s things. cut after the 30-day period, the daughter needs to move out or she would become an unauthorized occupant.

once a landlord discovers that there is an unauthorized occupant, the landlord has 60 days to negotiate a new tenancy agreement with that person or apply to the Landlord and Tenant coard to evict the unauthorized occupant. otherwise, the unauthorized occupation is deemed to be an assignment of the rental unit.

You should speak with the daughter to see what her plans are, and to let her know when she will need to vacate the building. If she wants to stay in the apartment, you can make a new tenancy agreement with her, at whatever rent you and she agree upon.

The situation is different if the deceased leaves a spouse living in the rental unit. Generally, if the sole tenant dies leaving a surviving spouse who lives in the unit, the spouse can either vacate within the 30-day period or remain in the unit and become the tenant. That does not apply to social housing, certain government housing or care homes (retirement residences or longterm care facilities).