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Death of a tenant

Who takes over the tenancy?

If a Southway tenant dies, the tenancy stays with any 'joint tenants' at that address.

A joint tenant is someone who has their name on the tenancy agreement, is equally responsible for paying the rent, and has the full legal rights and responsibilities of a tenant.

If there are no joint tenants, the tenancy may pass from the person who died to another person who lived with them at the time of their death - this is called 'succeeding to a tenancy'.

Who can succeed to a tenancy?

If there are no joint tenants, the tenancy of their home passes to:

  1. their partner (their husband, wife, civil partner or the person who had been living with them as part of a couple – gay or straight), as long as that person had been living with the tenant when they died.
  2. if there is no partner, it can pass to a relative (parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece) if they had been living with the tenant for the previous six months.
  3. if a partner or relative does not want the tenancy it can pass to a carer of the person who died as long they had been living with them for at least two years and that they are officially recognised as a carer by Manchester City Council.