Estate admin · Tenancy after death
No landlord checked offers a grace period; the notice that stops the rent runs from one week at L&Q to two months by statute for a private assured tenancy.
Rent does not stop when a tenant dies. The tenancy passes to the executor or administrator under the Administration of Estates Act 1925, and none of the five social landlords checked publishes a grace period. Bristol City Council, Sanctuary, Clarion and L&Q all say rent stays payable from the estate until the tenancy is formally ended; Peabody publishes nothing on rent at all.
Notice is where they differ. Bristol requires four weeks, always starting on a Monday. Sanctuary asks a minimum of four weeks. L&Q says the notice period is usually one week. Clarion requires written notice but gives no figure.
For a private assured tenancy the executor's notice must be at least two months under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.5(1ZA), in force since 1 May 2026, unless the landlord agrees a shorter period in writing. Housing association tenancies are not yet covered by that rule and stay on the four-week statutory minimum. England only, checked 6 September 2026.
Why the answer depends on who the landlord is
A tenancy is treated as real estate, and section 1 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 passes it to the deceased's personal representatives on death, not informally to the family. That is why the rent keeps running: the contract has a new party, the estate, and the estate owes what the tenant owed until the tenancy is ended. Shelter's guidance for private renters adds the limit on the other side: if the tenant did not leave enough money, the landlord cannot recover the shortfall from relatives, only from a joint tenant or a guarantor.
Statute fixes only a floor for a notice to quit. Section 5(1) of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 requires at least four weeks in writing, and on 6 September 2026 that un-amended minimum still governs council secure tenancies and housing association assured tenancies alike. What each landlord will accept in practice is its own decision, which is why Bristol counts its four weeks from a Monday, Sanctuary asks for a four-week minimum, L&Q says the period is usually one week, and Clarion and Peabody publish no figure.
Most housing association tenancies and all private tenancies are assured tenancies, and section 5(1) of the Housing Act 1988 says a landlord's notice to quit is of no effect against one. If the executor does not surrender, the landlord's route is a court order, normally under mandatory Ground 7, and proceedings must begin within twelve months of the death, or of the landlord becoming aware of it if the court so directs. The short notice periods the housing associations publish describe the cooperative process, not what happens when nobody engages.
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed the executor's own notice, but only for part of the market. From 1 May 2026, s.5(1ZA) of the 1977 Act requires a tenant, and so an executor, to give at least two months to end an assured tenancy, or any shorter period the landlord has agreed to in writing. S.I. 2026/421 commenced that rule only for assured tenancies that are not social housing assured tenancies, meaning tenancies where the landlord is a private registered provider such as Sanctuary, Clarion, L&Q or Peabody stay on the old four-week minimum until a further commencement order.
What to do in the first week
- Tell the landlord in writing in the first days and ask for the tenancy end date in writing. Every landlord that says anything about rent says it runs until the tenancy is formally ended, so each day before notice is given is a day of rent charged to the estate. L&Q and Sanctuary both say they confirm the end date back in writing; ask any landlord to do the same.
- Ask what notice the landlord will accept before assuming the statutory figure. L&Q's death page says the period is usually one week. For a private assured tenancy the two-month default under s.5(1ZA) can be shortened to any period the landlord agrees in writing, and Shelter's advice is to get the landlord to agree a last date for rent rather than serve the full notice.
- Return every key by the end date, and get a receipt. Bristol charges another week of rent if keys are not back by 12 noon on the Monday the tenancy ends, and L&Q says it cannot end the tenancy until it has received the form, the death certificate and all keys.
- Check the benefit cut-off separately from the notice period. Bristol says Housing Benefit stops on the Sunday after the date of death, and L&Q says it continues until the Sunday following the death. Rent for the rest of the notice period falls on the estate.
- Pay the rent from the estate, not from your own account. Bristol, L&Q and Shelter all say the estate is liable and the next of kin are not. If the estate cannot cover it, Shelter says the landlord cannot get the rent, unless there is a joint tenant or a guarantor.
- If there is no executor, expect the landlord to use the Public Trustee route. Until a grant is issued the tenancy vests in the Public Trustee under s.9 of the 1925 Act. Bristol serves its notice to quit on the Public Trustee and ends the tenancy four weeks later; GOV.UK's process for private landlords in England carries a £40 registration fee and a decision usually within 15 working days (checked 6 September 2026).
What each landlord and statute actually says
Read the notice column against the rent column: every provider that addresses rent says it runs to the end date, so the notice figure is the rent figure. Two of the five landlords, Clarion and Peabody, publish no notice period at all, and Peabody publishes nothing on rent either.
| Who can end it | Notice required | When rent stops | Statute or practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administration of Estates Act 1925 | Not fixed by this Act — it only decides who now holds the tenancy. Where there is no executor able to act, s.9 vests the estate, tenancy included, in the Public Trustee 'until the grant of representation'. | Not stated — the Act establishes only that the estate, through the personal representatives, is now the party liable under the tenancy. | Statutory |
| Protection from Eviction Act 1977, s.5(1) | At least 4 weeks, in writing. On 2026-09-06 this un-amended minimum still governs housing association (registered provider) assured tenancies, because S.I. 2026/421 commenced the two-month rule only for assured tenancies 'that are not social housing assured tenancies'. | Not stated — s.5 sets only the minimum notice; rent liability is a matter of the tenancy terms. | Statutory |
| Housing Act 1988, s.5 + Schedule 2 Ground 7 | Possession proceedings must begin within 12 months of the death — or, if the court so directs, within 12 months of the landlord becoming aware of it. For private (non-registered-provider) assured tenancies since 1 May 2026, Ground 7 is additionally unavailable where the person the tenancy devolved on was living there as their only or principal home before the death, unless the tenancy had already passed once by will/intestacy or was a 'special tenancy'. | Not stated — Ground 7 governs possession, not rent; rent keeps accruing against the estate throughout. | Statutory (Ground 7 amended 1 May 2026 for non-social assured tenancies only) |
| Protection from Eviction Act 1977, s.5(1ZA) | At least 2 months — unless the landlord has agreed in writing to a shorter period, in which case that shorter period (s.5(1ZA)(a)(i)). NOT yet in force for housing association / registered-provider tenancies: those remain on the 4-week s.5(1)(b) minimum until a further commencement order. | Not addressed in this subsection — it fixes only the length of the tenant-side notice. | Statutory (in force 1 May 2026, private assured tenancies only) |
| Bristol City Council | Four weeks. 'The notice always starts on a Monday' — given before 12 noon on a Monday it starts that day, after noon the following Monday. | 'We charge the full weekly rent until the tenancy is formally ended', paid from the estate (the executor and family are 'not responsible' personally). Keys must be back by 12 noon on the Monday the tenancy ends or weekly rent continues. Housing Benefit 'will stop on the Sunday after the date of death' and will not cover the gap. | Provider practice |
| Sanctuary | 'A minimum of four weeks' notice.' | 'Rent will still be payable until the tenancy end date'; Sanctuary confirms the end date and rent balance back to the next of kin, executor or personal representative. | Provider practice |
| Clarion Housing | Not stated. Written notice of termination is required but no day-count appears anywhere on the page. | 'Rent will continue to be due after they've passed away. Their estate will be liable for any rent.' | Provider practice |
| L&Q | 'The notice period is usually one week, but if you need more time, please let us know.' (L&Q's general ending-your-tenancy policy separately states four weeks; the death page is the shorter figure.) | 'Rent will continue to be charged until the tenancy is formally closed' — and L&Q 'can't end the tenancy until we receive all items' (form, certificate, all keys). Arrears are claimed 'from the resident's estate, not from next of kin'. Housing Benefit 'will continue until the Sunday following their death'. | Provider practice |
| Peabody · publishes nothing | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Shelter — private tenancies | No fixed period — Shelter advises agreeing an early surrender in writing: 'Get the landlord to agree a last date for rent.' (The statutory fallback if no agreement is reached is the two-month s.5(1ZA) notice in the row above.) | Once the agreed last date passes or the tenancy is formally ended: 'Any rent due after the tenant dies and before the tenancy ends should be paid out of any money left by the tenant.' 'The landlord cannot get the rent if the tenant did not leave enough money' — only a joint tenant or guarantor can be pursued personally. | Guidance on typical private-sector practice |
| GOV.UK | Written notice posted to the tenant's last address, addressed to 'The Personal Representative of [full name of the tenant who died] of [last known address]' — otherwise the application 'could be rejected'; £40 registration fee; a decision 'usually' within 15 working days of sending the application and payment. | Not addressed on this page — it covers reclaiming the property, not rent liability. | Statutory process (England). Wales: 'The tenancy will end automatically one month after a tenant dies.' |
11 checked · 1 publish nothing at all on this question — that row is kept deliberately, because the silence is the finding. Each row is what that provider’s own page says, on the date beside it.
If you are administering the estate
The tenancy is one line in a longer list. Valoren's blank executor checklist at /resources/blank-executor-checklist is free to use and puts the landlord notice alongside the other first-week tasks, so the rent clock is not the one you forget.
Keep the date you gave notice, the end date the landlord confirmed and the key receipt together. The executor evidence log at /library/executor-evidence-log is the place for them; if the landlord later claims a further week, the record is what settles it.
Valoren does not end tenancies or deal with landlords on your behalf. What it does is prepare the record of what you did and when, which is what a landlord, a co-executor or the family will ask to see.
Tenancy after death, answered.
What usually comes next.
Rent is one estate debt among several. These three take you from this notice question to the wider picture, in order.
Informational, not advice. This page turns on a commencement split that will not last. S.I. 2026/421 brought the two-month executor's notice (Protection from Eviction Act 1977 s.5(1ZA)) and the amended Ground 7 into force on 1 May 2026 for private assured tenancies only; a further commencement order under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 will extend them to social housing assured tenancies, at which point the four-week figure for Sanctuary, Clarion, L&Q and Peabody tenancies stops being the statutory floor. Confirm on legislation.gov.uk that no commencement order later than S.I. 2026/638 (22 June 2026) has commenced Chapter 1 of Part 1 for social housing assured tenancies. Separately, each landlord's figure is its own published practice and can change without notice: L&Q's 'usually one week' is soft wording, Bristol's Monday rule is procedural, and Peabody returns 403 to automated fetches even with a browser user agent, so its page must be re-read in a browser rather than assumed unchanged. GOV.UK's £40 Public Trustee fee and 15-working-day decision time were correct on 6 September 2026. England only. Wales runs under separate tenancy legislation and, per GOV.UK, a tenancy there ends automatically one month after death without the Public Trustee route; Scotland and Northern Ireland have different regimes for both social and private renting and are not covered. 'Housing association tenancy' means the ordinary assured tenancy that Sanctuary, Clarion, L&Q and Peabody grant as standard, which the Renters' Rights Act 2025 s.145(8) classes as a social housing assured tenancy because the landlord is a private registered provider; older secure, fully mutual or almshouse tenancies are not addressed. Council tenancies here are secure tenancies under the four-week s.5(1) minimum. Shelter is an advice body, not a landlord, and its row describes typical private-sector practice rather than a published policy. All quotes were taken from the cited pages on 6 September 2026.