Who do I pay rent to if my landlord died?
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Who do I pay rent to if my landlord died?
I am renting a home and the lease is between us a mother and daughter. The mother passed away and the daughter wants us to pay the rent to her. However, another daughter wants us to pay her as she is over her mother’s estate.
Asked on October 4, 2011 under Estate Planning, Virginia
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
And of course, you are stuck in the middle. How were you paying it before? To the Mother and the daughter separately or together? If both own the property and the daughter did not inherit it automatically upon the mother's death (called rights of survivorship) then you should pay half to the daughter and half to the estate of the mother. Make sure that you pay by check or money order and that you indicate that it is half of the rent. You do not really know how the property is held, do you? Who is on the deed? Then I might go to court and ask the court to allow you to pay it in to court until you are given some direction here. Good luck.
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