Death of a tenant
Who takes over the tenancy?
If a City South tenant dies, the tenancy stays with any joint tenants at that address.
A joint tenant is someone who has their name on the tenancy agreement, is equally responsible for paying the rent, and has the full legal rights and responsibilities of a tenant.
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If there are no joint tenants, the tenancy may pass from the person who died to another person who lived with them at the time of their death - this is called 'succeeding to a tenancy'.
Who can succeed to a tenancy?
If there are no joint tenants, the tenancy of their home passes to:
- their partner (their husband, wife, civil partner or the person who had been living with them as part of a couple – gay or straight), as long as that person had been living with the tenant when they died;
- if there is no partner, it can pass to a relative (parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece) if they had been living with the tenant for the previous six months;
- if a partner or relative does not want the tenancy it can pass to a carer of the person who died as long they had been living with them for at least two years and that they are officially recognised as a carer by Manchester City Council.
Conditions
If the tenancy passes to a relative or carer, and the home is bigger than they need, we have the legal right to move them out to a suitable alternative home. But we would not move out a partner in the same situation.
If someone has already taken over the tenancy following the death of a previous tenant, the tenancy does not legally have to go to someone else if they die. But we can agree to a ‘second succession’ like this if the person had been living with the tenant for at least ten years.
If they had been living there less than ten years we may end the tenancy (so not allowing a succession) but start a new tenancy agreement and allow them to stay in the property.
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