Q: My tenant committed suicide on Jan 2, 2017 in my rental. We had a mth to mth lease only with him and us.
After the corner and sheriff took the body the sheriff gave his wife his keys to the house. They had been separated for the past 3 years and has never she lived in the house. I understand her grieve & pain. Suicide is difficult to accept & deal with I know. I have tried to be as compassionate as possible with her. At first all was fine, she now feels she has total access to the house till Jan 31, 2017. She told me we do not have the righ to enter the house and refuses return his keys. I told her if she wanted in the house anytime just text me and I would go over and unlock the doors & they could have their privacy.
We want nothing financial from her or the estate. We waved the security deposit and last mths rent because he did not have it. We knew him as a friend and just wanted to help him & we have no regrets he was a good tenant. There are signs of mice in the house and I would like to get the clothes & clutter up to vacuum and set mouse traps. What are our landlord rights?
A: Contact an attorney for details. If the lease was month-to-month and the deceased was still married to the woman and/or she is managing his estate, she must be allowed unrestricted access to the apartment until the term expires. If there is a mice problem, you are allowed access per the lease agreement to ensure the health and safety of the building. For cleaning normal landlord rules apply, you generally cannot destroy or move tenant's personal property (unless there is an immediate health/safety risk), but you can collect traps. You may want to send a letter (which does not need to be mean) to the woman giving notice that the lease will terminate when the last payment expires.
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