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[Arthur Baker]

My friend Jacqui owns an investment flat which she has rented out for some time to a good tenant. Sadly, the tenant died suddenly and unexpectedly on 20 April 2017. An autopsy was required but there are no suspicious circumstances and the tenant did not die in the property.

A direct debit payment of 2 weeks’ rent in advance would have been due on 21 April, but naturally the tenant’s bank immediately froze her account and the payment didn’t go through. So Jacqui’s rental income effectively ceased the day after the tenant’s death.

Jacqui sympathises with the grieving family, but is now losing rental payments, on which she relies for her own living expenses, because the family of the deceased has been slow to clear the tenant’s possessions out of the flat.

After some delay, Jacqui received the rental bond, which was enough to cover 4 weeks’ rent, up to 17 May. There is no bond money now remaining.

Without consulting Jacqui, the managing agent unilaterally gave the tenant’s family until 3 June to clear the flat – an extra 17 days rent-free. Jacqui has been denied access to the flat until 5 June. So the process of finding another tenant cannot start until at least 19 days after the expiry of rent paid, and if damage needs to be repaired or cleaning done, Jacqui will face at least 3 weeks and probably longer without rental income, for no reason that she has caused.

Is there any way Jacqui can reclaim lost rental for what may be 4 weeks or more, a significant loss, either from the managing agent or from the estate of the deceased when her will is eventually executed?

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