The tenancy continues after the death

A rented home does not disappear from the file because the tenant has died. The agreement continues until, under the statute, it is continued or ended. On the line you put the address, the name of the landlord, and whether the contract is in the folder. Add who lived in the home on the date of death, and in what capacity. Article 7:268 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek sets the frame for that continuation. This piece sketches that frame and designates no one in this home. An open field for the landlord is better than a name from the family's memory. The first task is to find the contract and to ask the landlord what the records state.

A co-tenant (medehuurder) continues the tenancy as tenant. That person may terminate the tenancy within six months after the death, by a bailiff's writ (exploot) or by registered letter. The notice takes effect on the first day of the second month after the notice. Someone who had their main residence in the home and kept a lasting shared household with the deceased, but is not a co-tenant, continues the tenancy for six months. Within those six months that person must ask the court for permission to stay longer. The grounds on which the court may refuse such a request are not set out here. This distinction belongs on the line before anyone drafts a letter.

If there is no one who continues the tenancy under article 7:268, the tenancy ends at the end of the second month after the death. The heirs may bring the tenancy to an end as of the end of the first month after the death. That is lid 6. If the statutory distribution (wettelijke verdeling) of article 4:13 BW applies, that power lies with the spouse or the registered partner, not with the heirs together. Ask in the file whether that distribution applies, and put the answer next to the tenancy line. A spouse or registered partner is often already a co-tenant by operation of law under article 7:266 BW. A girlfriend, or another housemate, is not that automatically.

The file should hold the address, the landlord, who lived there, and which route under article 7:268 BW is in view. Keep the contract and, if there is a notice, the bailiff's writ or the registered letter with the date. Ervazo keeps the letter and the reply. It does not send them. Do not write a rent and do not write a deposit while the statement is missing. The home is not property of the estate inventory merely because the deceased lived there. This is not legal advice. Whether someone continues the tenancy in this file, and whether a notice takes effect on the right day, is confirmed by the landlord. Where the statutory distribution affects the power, the notary confirms that from the deed.