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Residential Tenancies Act 1986

Tenancy agreements - Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

50A: Termination following death of sole tenant

You could also call this:

“When a person living alone in a rented home dies, the rental agreement ends within 21 days or on a date agreed by everyone involved.”

When you are the only person renting a place and you die, the rental agreement ends. This can happen in a few different ways:

If someone who represents you after your death, like a family member, tells your landlord in writing that you have died, the agreement ends 21 days after they give this notice.
If your landlord tells your representative or a close family member in writing to leave the rental property, the agreement ends 21 days after the landlord gives this notice.
Your representative or a close family member can agree with the landlord on a date to end the agreement. This needs to be in writing.
If the landlord can’t give notice to anyone about leaving the property, they can ask the Tenancy Tribunal to decide when the agreement should end.

The agreement will end on whichever of these happens first. If the landlord needs to ask the Tenancy Tribunal to end the agreement, they can do this without telling anyone else first.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3280824.

Topics:

Housing and property > Renting

Family and relationships > Marriage and partnerships

50: Circumstances in which tenancies are terminated, or

“This explains the different ways a rental agreement can end, like when the lease runs out or someone moves out.”

51: Termination by notice, or

“Rules for landlords and tenants to end a rental agreement by giving notice”

Part 2 Tenancy agreements
Termination of tenancies and recovery of possession

50ATermination following death of sole tenant

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:
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:
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:
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:
the date determined as the termination date of the tenancy agreement by the Tribunal on the application of the landlord under subsection (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.

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Notes

Section 50A: inserted, on 1 October 2010, by section 32 of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 95).