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Tough situation-I assume you have already cleaned up ,but I would think you'd have to be very careful with the possibility of something like Aids-not a pleasent thought but cant be to careful.
Im surprised the health dept doesnt require specialized cleaning service --its a real shame for everyone,you included of coarse. Sympathies
Tough situation-I assume you have already cleaned up ,but I would think you'd have to be very careful with the possibility of something like Aids-not a pleasent thought but cant be to careful.
Im surprised the health dept doesnt require specialized cleaning service --its a real shame for everyone,you included of coarse. Sympathies
Aids is not the thing to worry about but hepatitis is. I have had my injections for that. Paid for I might add by ACC because I got a needle injury once. I am being rather careful re the total clean up until the 21 days are up. I am always wary of people making claims against me in tribunal for unlawful possession and disposing of goods. It still happens but if I do not make it a daily practice to be looking over my shoulder I will get sloppy and get caught. So today I sloshed the blood away and scrubbed the wooden floor with a yard broom. So I will start showing applicants right away and if we get an applicant who wants it right away quickly finish off the cleaning and goods disposal.
eri's post at 14 - not sure who should be more offended. Me for insinuating I'm wrong, or NovInvestor for assuming he didn't read the original and form his own opinion on the matter.
The only time I have had a death at a property (natural causes) - the immediate family came around en masse the next day.
After I arrived, the eldest daughter managed to wait a full 20 minutes, before asking if the bond could be paid to her, in cash, right then and there. Nice.
The only time I have had a death at a property (natural causes) - the immediate family came around en masse the next day.
After I arrived, the eldest daughter managed to wait a full 20 minutes, before asking if the bond could be paid to her, in cash, right then and there. Nice.
I have had a few now. (deaths that is.) Do not be surprised by the request for the bond. That is one of the most common requests I get all the time. When the likes of public trust ask for it I feel sick for the poor people who entrust their money and estates to them. My beef is there seems to be a collective body of thought out there that the tenants obligations have been wiped clean with death. The general belief is that it is something unseemly for the landlord to expect his property to be returned quickly and without any payment for use of the property to store the estates stuff. I tell you it is even worse when the family will not move out despite the tenancy having ended. I have seen some real expensive damage done to a property when the loved one has departed. There is absolutely nothing a landlord can do about it.
The family should of cleared the flat out completely, cleaned it and spoken to you in regards to replacing the carpet where the pool of blood is. While their family member has passed away and that is obviously going to have an effect on the family and so on, there is still a property needing to be tidied up and returned to the rental market.Do you have a contact number for the deceased tenants relatives or a contact address? If yes phone them advising them that the flat needs to be fully cleared out and cleaned within a certain amount of time. Maybe there needs to be a clause in tenancy agreements to deal with things like this including a person who agrees to deal with the clean up in the event of death.
I had a tenant accidentally kill himself at the flat a couple years ago. His partners family in the flat next door. It was two weeks later when I called his partner to inquire why the rent was late and why he wasn't responding to my attempts at contact that I was told the sad news. She never returned to the flat from the moment it happened and her family next door had also moved out. They had done a great job at cleaning up other than a few small spots of blood. Her sister signed both bonds over to me, I got the flat next-door's notice period paid in full and I left it at that. A few dollars short but in those circumstances I'm not going after the grieving partner for a couple hundred.
I had a spiritual friend bless the flats and had them both let out a month later.
That is a BRILLIANT idea, td91. You could have some fun with that clause... Tenant agrees not to commit suicide on premises during tenancy, or if s/he must, it must be via means that leaves no mess, including but not limited to blood either in stains, pools or splatters. Please advise next of kin of their responsibilities should tenant die of natural causes (or otherwise) during tenancy. If suffering from heart attack or other prolonged incident where death may result, tenant must position themselves either out of doors or on a hard surface, preferably the bathtub while waiting for help to arrive. Do NOT contact Landlord until after....um....please advice next of kin to contact LL immediately, before any smell can accumulate.
I often read what I have written a couple of days later and think I should have been clearer. The act makes no provision for any claims against a person or their relatives after death. Sure you can make a claim against an estate and yes I have done that. Obviously the bond is owned by the estate. You can not enforce a debt against an estate. Only against a real person. (as best as I understand it). Generally bank accounts are frozen real fast and so it is normal to not get any more rent after death. I think it would be a complete waste of time making a tribunal claim. As for this property the blood landed on the wooden floor. I went in yesterday and emptied a bucket of water on the mess and gave it a good brisk rubbing with a yard broom. Today I had an application. I declared the previous tenant had died. The applicant was going to get someone to bless the place. He is keen to use some of the abandoned furniture. Nothing like resourceful tenants. Some idiot had left a bunch of flowers on the door step so I got rid of them real fast before the applicant turned up.
I think you are a hero Glenn.
I've been in a similar situation to your deceased tenant's next of kin. I was not able
to go anywhere near where the death occurred, and had no thought whatsoever
for the landlord or the police and people who dealt with the body. I'm not sure
what I would have said or done if there were demands made by other people, as
I felt completely overwhelmed and shattered. It's no surprise to me that you get
weird and unlovely actions from people close to people who have died, because
if they loved them they will surely not be their normal selves, whatever that
normality might be. To this day, I have no idea of who the landlord was, what
the rent or bond situation was, who cleaned out the flat and what happened to
most of the contents. I know I'm very grateful for whoever quietly did the work
without fanfare or compensation as far as I know. That was 16 years ago, just
like yesterday, they all did good turns which I try to pass on.
Sorry. You are right. I stagger through my life thinking of all the hind sights I should have and could have done and said. Instead I popped them into the rubbish bin located right beside the door. I think the idea of some well intentioned person was to make someone happy. Or was it supposed to be some sort of magical charm. Having just come from the tenancy tribunal I was feeling neither charming nor magical.
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