Tenantcheck Insights · Case study
Tenancy Tribunal case 5422258 — Tenancy dispute
Decided 17 Feb 2026 · Published 17 Feb 2026 · Application 5422258
Party names are redacted in the official published order. This page summarises the dispute only — not individual identities.
At a glance
Key facts from the published tribunal order.
Adjudicator
T Prowse
Claims & awards
What this tenancy cost at tribunal — claim, category, amount, and party awarded, with reconciled net total.
No individual claim amounts were reconciled for this order. View the official Ministry of Justice PDF for full detail.
Order
- An application for suppression has been made in this case, and the Tribunal orders suppression of both party’s names and identifying details.
- The tenancy terminated on the 20 January 2026. The landlord is entitled to possession of the property immediately.
Reasons
- The landlord is seeking an order from the Tribunal as to when this tenancy terminated.
- The tenancy commenced on the 17 December 2025, sadly only 6 days later the tenant died.
- The landlord became aware of the tenant’s death after being told by the Police on or about the 29 or 30 December 2025.
- The landlord has been in contact with the tenant’s ex- partner, but she is not the tenant’s personal representative, and she does not know of other family members who could be.
- The landlord says that the tenant had very little in the way of belongings and therefore there are no belongings to dispose of and it unlikely that the tenant’s estate will be solvent.
- Section 50A of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 (RTA) sets out what happens when a sole tenant dies: Termination following death of sole tenant (1) On the death of a sole tenant under a tenancy agreement (whether for a fixed- term tenancy or a periodic tenancy), the tenancy agreement terminates on the earliest of the following dates: (a) the date that is the 21st day after the date on which the personal representative of the tenant or a person who is the tenant’s next of kin gives the landlord written notice of the death of the tenant: (b) the date that is the 21st day after the landlord gives the personal representative of the tenant or a person who is the tenant’s next of kin written notice to vacate the premises that are the subject of the tenancy agreement: (c) The date that is agreed in writing by the landlord with the personal representative of the tenant or with a person who is the tenant’s next of kin: (d) the date determined as the termination date of the tenancy agreement by the Tribunal on the application of the landlord under subsection (2). (2) If a landlord is unable to give notice to vacate under subsection (1)(b), the landlord may apply, without notice, to the Tribunal for an order to terminate the tenancy.
- I consider that the landlord first became aware of the death of the tenant on the 30 January 2025, and that the tenancy terminated on the 21 st day after that date being the 20 January 2025.
- The landlord provided a rent summary which shows that the tenant owed no rent to the 20 January 2025. Name suppression.
- I have suppressed both parties’ names in this matter. Whilst I consider that there is some public interest in the public understanding how tenancies end when a tenant has died, I do not consider that there is public interest in knowing the identity of the deceased or the landlord.