Death of a tenant

If a MHT London tenant dies, the tenancy stays with any joint tenants at that address.  A joint tenancy is where two people or more are given an identical interest in the property and are effectively treated as one single tenant and are equally responsible for paying the rent. They have the full legal rights and responsibilities for the whole of the tenancy. They will then become the sole tenant of the property through ‘survivorship’.

If there are no joint tenants and the tenancy was not previously a joint tenancy, the tenancy may pass from the person who died to another person who lived with them at the time of their death - this is called ‘succession’ of a tenancy. The law only permits one succession. This means that if there has already been a succession or there is nobody living in the property who is entitled to take over the tenancy, the security of the tenancy will end.

 

Who can succeed to a tenancy?

The rights for succession are set out by law and in your tenancy agreement. In general, where there is no joint tenant or there was not previously a joint tenancy the tenancy of the home passes to:

• the deceased partner (their husband, wife, civil partner or co-habitee living together as man or wife), as long as that person had been living with the tenant when they died
• if there is no partner, it can pass to a family member if they have been living at the property for at least 12 months prior to the tenants death.

Conditions

If the tenancy passes to a relative, and the home is not suitable for their needs, we have the legal right to move them out to a suitable alternative home.  But we would generally not move out a husband, wife, or partner who under-occupy their homes after succeeding.

Please inform us as soon as possible in the event of a death of a tenant. This may effect the rights of any remaining household members.

If you would like more information or a copy of our Succession policy, please contact our Customer Services team on 0800 783 2399.

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