UK Landlord Forum / Life

I have a rather tricky situation that I would like to get your thoughts on.

I have a rental property with a tenant; a lady plus 3 children under 17, they have been in the house for 2.5 years with the monthly rent paid direct to me (generally on time though recently it's started to slip) from their father (the breadwinner) who lives abroad.
I have only recently found only last week that unfortunately he has died. At the moment I haven't been able to speak to her as her phone, understandably seems to be switched off, and emails are bouncing back.
I have a gut feeling that they will now struggle to pay the rent going forward. Whilst I am sorry for her loss I will still need the rent to be paid.
How would you suggest I handle this delicate situation when I get to speak to the tenant? Any thoughts?

It's not going to be easy, and there's always a risk of offending a grieving partner when talking about financial arrangements, but you need to distance yourself from the sad details and focus on your own potential loss..

There's no right or wrong way to establish her intentions but next payday or the one after that will probably give you some idea where this is taking you..

I'd send a card of condolence, wait a week or two and arrange a visit to discuss the ongoing tenancy if there is one..

There are too many variables to advise you intelligently, so keep us posted and good luck...

( A small part of me is wanting to say that you don't have to take her word for the facts, maybe he ran off with his secretary, maybe he just lost his job.. people tell lies and there's no end to the depths they'll plumb for a bit of sympathy.. be careful of being too understanding..)

The legal side will come down to who's on the Agreement.. and the law doesn't do empathy, so you can't feel obliged to...

#Bloofox - thanks for the advice I'll keep the forum posted. 

You may end up luck in that life insurance pays out and means rent is able to be paid long term.

You have to put your business hat on.

The card and 1/2 week follow up sounds like a good idea. You can't wait forever and the tenants response to your discussion and dialogue might spell out to you how the tenancy is likely to go on. If they can go through calmly and have a plan in place, then likely to be ok. Anger and shouting and not wanting to discuss tenancy/rent would not be a promising start for this next chapter in the tenancy.