Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Hi, I need some advice on how to deal with a lease after the tenant passes away. I know the law in Maryland states that the lease remains in effect after a tenant passes and the remaining lease obligation will be settled by the executor of the will. So legally, I don't have any questions, I just need some advice about what is morally the right thing to do in this situation. To give you some more details, I leased my condo to my neighbor to use for his mother in law who was ill. We always knew that she was terminal but we all thought she had a lot longer to live. Last November I leased it to him and gave him 2 months free rent because he needed to make some upgrades to the property to make it more handicap accessible. The lease officially started in January 2017 and was for 2 years, so there is still 16 months left in the lease. The rent was set at $1450 ($50 less than market value - also to accommodate for the upgrades/repairs they did on the property). I can't imagine that they will pay me $23000 to hold onto a lease for another year and half. We all assumed there may be a few months left at the end of the lease and he had said he would just pay me the remainder of the lease from her estate. But I would just not feel right about accepting 16 months rent and $23000 as that could essentially be their kid's college fund. So, what do I do? Do I just wait and see what they want to do or should I offer to break the lease and keep their deposit? Breaking the lease would be the most beneficial to them as they have already paid for August, but it kind of leaves me hanging because then I have to get this place rented out again and the deposit will not cover the costs to do that and I'll be left paying the mortgage out of my pocket for potentially a couple of months. I was thinking of offering to modify the lease to 1 year, instead of 2. That would leave 4 months left in the lease and plenty of time for me to do whatever renovations need to be done before renting it out again. Do you think this would be fair? Thanks, Jen

Contact who ever is handling the estate and see what their intention is. I'm sure they will be happy to talk with you. Also, if special modifications were made, they may be required to return the property back to the original layout. Keep us posted.

Posted by Stan M, CA on Saturday, July 29, 2017