The Association des Propriétaires du Québec (APQ) addressed the issue of deceased tenants in private rental housing in August 2022, in one of its information capsules.
Unfortunately, tenants die in their homes or in hospitals while still renting a unit.
In most cases, the estate will ensure what happens with the end of the lease as well as taking over the deceased’s property.
But what happens when the family refuses the succession?
This situation occurs 6 to 8 times per year at the Office municipal d’habitation (OMH) de Sherbrooke(1).
In this report for instance, “Jacqueline Rouleau lived in a three and a half apartment for ten years before passing away on April 6, 2021 at the age of 76. Because her relatives refused the succession, they did not get permission to empty her dwelling and dispose of her property, so that her furniture is still in her home, some 19 months after her death.”
Be aware that in the event of refusal of the succession by the persons likely to succeed, either by law or by will, Revenu Québec will take care of liquidating the succession.
On the Revenu Québec website(2), it states that “Revenu Québec may intervene in a succession only after it has been informed of the renunciation of all the successors or, if no successor is known, at the expiry of a period of six months following the date of death. A request to open a file for an unclaimed estate will then have to be completed.”
We advise you not to give access to anyone who is not mandated for the succession. Even if it is the daughter of the tenant you know, that does not necessarily mean that she is heiress or executor or even that she would not have refused the succession!
(1) https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2022/12/06/succession-refusee--un-logement-de-hlm-inoccupe-a-sherbrooke?fbclid=IwAR1NjyK7CpmHtkGbtt0EpLpx86Vg-5X1nsbIt8g4bTO7zL6ocdrQda9vbM4
(2) https://www.revenuquebec.ca/fr/biens-non-reclames/sinformer/successions-non-reclamees/biens-meubles-et-vehicules-dun-locataire-decede/