Deceased bond recovery
Question from Nagoor updated on 8th April 2020:
In my rental unit I had long-term tenants who were previously the owners. Unfortunately, both are now deceased. The issue I am facing is the recovery of the dues from the bond money. There was an outstanding balance of $650 to be recovered from the bond money.
We are unable to locate the legal heir to the deceased tenants as they had no children. We filed a case with the Tribunal. But it has refused to give a decision to release the bond money unless we locate next of kin or people who manage the estate. We tried Public Trust and could not locate anything. Is there any way this issue could be resolved? I am sure this won't be the first instance of this.
Our expert Steve Watson responded:
As the Tenancy Tribunal has determined that the representative of the deceased tenant must be located, then locating the next of kin or executor of the tenant’s will is indeed the best place to start. Given you have tried Public Trust, you could check with local law firms who may have had the deceased as a client. Or if someone has retrieved the tenant’s possessions, you could try contacting them.
Once an executor or next of kin has been located the Tribunal can hear the application. If you are unsuccessful in locating either an executor or next of kin, I suggest returning to Public Trust for guidance.
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