What happens when your tenant dies? The law provides several mechanisms and safeguards to protect your rights as a landlord. Among other things, the lease is not automatically terminated, i.e. broken, upon the death of the tenant. We help you with:Landlords’ law, Death of the tenant, Eviction, Non-payment of rent and frequent delays, Takeover of housing, Termination, subletting and assignment of lease
Notice to Landlord
Regardless of whether the tenant was living alone or with others at the time of death, it is necessary to send a notice to the landlord in order to terminate the lease. Only specific individuals can send this notice. On its website, the Tribunal administratif du logement provides a model notice to be sent to the landlord both when the tenant lived alone in his dwelling and when he lived there with others.
Tenant who lived alone in his dwelling
When the tenant was living alone at the time of death, the law requires the executor or heir to the estate to send notice to the landlord within 6 months of the death to terminate the lease. The lease will be terminated 2 months after this notice is sent.
However, the liquidator or heir and the landlord can agree that the termination will take place before the end of these 2 months. This early termination can also take place if the landlord succeeds in re-renting the unit before the end of the 2-month period.
In order to avoid renewing the lease, the landlord may notify the liquidator or heir himself. The liquidator or heir has one month from the receipt of the notice to contest it in court. If he fails to do so, it means that he has agreed to the end of the lease.
Services related to the tenant’s person are, for example, housekeeping or food services. They are often offered in seniors’ residences. If such services were rendered to the deceased tenant, the executor or heir does not have to pay the cost of these services, whether they are included in the lease agreement or provided in a separate agreement. However, he must bear the costs of services that have been rendered during the tenant’s lifetime and that have not yet been paid.
Tenant who lived in his dwelling with others
If the person who lived in the dwelling with the deceased tenant had also signed the lease agreement, he or she remains a tenant despite the death of his or her co-tenant and must therefore assume the obligations of the lease on his or her own.
However, if the person who was cohabiting with the deceased tenant had not signed the lease agreement, they must send a notice to the landlord within 2 months of the tenant’s death in order to replace the latter in the lease agreement and thus obtain the right to remain in the premises. This right allows the person who enjoys it to stay in the dwelling for as long as he or she wishes. The landlord cannot object to this.
However, according to the law, only the following persons can replace the deceased tenant:
- The deceased tenant’s spouse who is married or in a civil union;
- The deceased tenant’s common-law partner, if he or she cohabited with the deceased tenant for at least 6 months;
- A family member of the deceased tenant, if they cohabited with the deceased tenant for at least 6 months;
- An ally, i.e. a family member of the deceased tenant’s spouse, if he or she has cohabited with the deceased tenant’s spouse for at least 6 months;
- The person who lives with the tenant at the time of death.
In one case, the Tribunal noted that:
In order to inhabit the premises, the intensity of the occupation must not be described as occasional or punctual. The frequent visitor of a relative does not become someone who lives with the tenant visited, since the occupation is temporary and is not intended to remain in that place on a regular basis.
If, at the end of the 2-month period, the person who is entitled to send the notice has not done so, the liquidator or heir of the estate has one month to send the notice of termination of the lease. Such termination shall take place one month after the sending of such notice.
The person who lived with the deceased tenant, the liquidator or the heir must pay only for the services related to the person of the tenant that were rendered during the tenant’s lifetime, regardless of whether the price of the services is included in the rent or in a separate contract.
If you have a dispute following the death of your tenant, do not hesitate to contact our lawyers specializing in housing law.