State Specific Question About: ARIZONA (AZ)

As a landlord what is the process was for taking possession of a property and liability for lease after death of a tenant? What steps should be taken?

This will be somewhat state specific, but in general there are a couple of approaches:

1) Rent is not paid. File for eviction to recover possession of the property.

2) Learn your states process for abandoned property. Do you have to store items left behind?

3) Contact the executor of the estate, if known, and arrange for them to pick up the items.

One thing NOT to do: do NOT, under ANY circumstances, give ANYONE keys, UNLESS they have a court order designating them as the official representative of the deceased person's estate.

Do not give keys to FAMILY.

Do not give keys to FRIENDS.

Do not give keys to NEIGHBORS.

Do not give keys to ANYONE, unless you get evidence that said person is legally allowed to enter the premises. Period. If you allow access and somewhere down the road someone wants to cry foul, you will be on the hook for allowing unauthorized people to enter the premises. And they will try. Oh my, will they TRY. They will claim the deceased tenant "wanted them to have X"... nope. Only the estate executor gets to decide that, according to the Will if it exists, or according to what the Court says must happen.

Did I mention.... don't give keys to ANYONE, unless they have a court order as the estate executor? *grins

Most times tenants don't have much of an estate. Odds and ends personal property. Maybe a car. It's not like Jimi Hendrix autographed guitar is sitting on the couch. I've found Missouri abandonment laws are usually the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way for me to proceed. But I've only had one tenant pass in residence, so... take that for what it's worth.

Eh, maybe not, but he was listed on the lease as the contact person, he paid the rent after she passed, he cleaned it out and I got it re-rented and no one is complaining.

My lease says this:

CONTACT PEOPLE IN EVENT OF DEATH OR EMERGENCY OF TENANT

In the event I cannot be reached, the following persons are trusted friends or family members I designate as approved to receive mail, notices, phone calls, texts, messages, deliveries, etc. for me from Owner / Management.

Maybe I should revise it to say, in the event I cannot be reached or pass from this earth . . . .

Found online, I like it, now I just need to fit it in somewhere. My lease is packed and one more paragraph is going to add another page...

You have a balancing act to perform. You want the place rent ready as soon as possible and the folks who can do that might help and then again, they might also sue you if you do the wrong thing.

This is one of those things that if you hold to the strictest interpretation of the law you will end up with a road rash and lost rent.

While I don't give out keys, in all cases a friend/family has already had a key. I don't consider it my job to interpret who was given access by the now deceased tenant, I don't believe a judge would expect that either.

Only had one of the deaths where they were the only one on the lease. She opted out with a pistol. Her ex was arguing with her at the time.

Police said that I had to lock the place up and nobody could get in until the coroner was done. She had maybe five cats in there. I had to go take care of them daily.

Her ex wasn't allowed to go in. They had lived together for years but this was one of the many break-ups.

Her family contacted me from PA. They came in and trashed the place looking for valuables. Left more junk in the apartment than was there to begin with. Freed the cats and went back to the hole they came from in PA.

Only thing I took out of there was the keys to her car. Her bank contacted me and asked for them. The ex was gonna take the car and sell it.