Disposing of a deceased tenant's belongings
I work for a registered social landlord. A tenant of ours has recently died and left belongings in a property but no known relatives to contact. I would like to know how to go about disposing of the gentleman's belongings and reletting the property without any risk of legal repercussions. The situation has been complicated by the fact that this gentleman suffered from TB and we have been advised that no staff should enter the property.

The Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 provides you with a legal remedy and enables you to dispose of the goods if they are not collected. You will need to serve a notice addressed to the personal representatives of the deceased tenant. The notice explains that the landlord intends to dispose of the goods in the property unless they are collected within a certain period (14 days is usually adequate). Since you do not know where the representatives are you will have to pin the notice to the door. On expiry of the notice, if no one has contacted you to recover the goods, you are entitled to dispose of the goods. If they are of any value, you should sell the goods, otherwise they can be thrown away. You are entitled to deduct your reasonable costs of arranging sale of the goods. It may be that the tenancy agreement entitles you to set the sale proceeds against any arrears of rent (or indeed any other debt owed by the tenant). If it does, you can do so.

You should at the same time serve a notice to quit, addressed to the representatives and copied to the public trustee in order to terminate the tenancy. Only then can you relet.

As to clearing the flat and the question regarding TB, this is something on which you need advice from the local council, if not the Health & Safety Executive, as you clearly cannot send contractors in to clear the flat of the goods if there is any health hazard. If there is a health risk, you should use a specialist firm to empty the property – although whether TB can really be caught from belongings is doubtful. Once the property is empty there is no problem in reletting it as there is no successor.

Many RSLs have clauses in their tenancy agreements dealing with what happens to belongings left in a home at the end of a tenancy. If yours does not, then next time the tenancy is reviewed, put one in. Assuming there is nothing in the tenancy agreement, you should store the property for a while – maybe three months – in case anyone does claim it. If at the end of three months no-one has claimed anything, then there is little risk in selling what you can and disposing of the rest. You can recoup your storage costs from any money raised from selling them, and the balance would belong to a relative if anyone turned up to claim. Any valuable property will go to the Crown if there is no-one to claim it, and you need to consult a solicitor who is expert in probate.
Catherine Hand, Partner at solicitor Jenkins & Hand

More on the assured tenancy debate

I disagree with the tenancy advice given by Jane Loftus (HT 14 November, page 30). If you have exclusive use of accommodation, then it will be either an assured tenancy or an assured shorthold tenancy. It is only a licence when you have specified that you require unrestricted access to the occupant's room to provide services.

If there is a resident landlord and the house has been converted to flats, then the tenancy will be a licence. You can give a licensed occupier reasonable notice to quit – you do not need to have a court order.

However, if an assured shorthold tenancy is given, the minimum notice is six months. You do not have a guaranteed right to possession if the tenant refuses to leave during the first six months of the tenancy. You have to have a court order setting out grounds for possession.
Carole Holmberg, housing manager, Vectis Housing Association