An inherited house with somebody living in it is two problems at once: an estate to administer, and a tenancy with its own law, which changed fundamentally in May 2026.
The tenancy does not end when the landlord dies
A tenancy is a right in the property itself, so it survives the person who granted it. The tenant stays, the terms are unchanged, the rent keeps falling due, and the house passes into the estate with the tenancy attached to it. Nothing about the death shortens the tenant’s rights or the landlord’s duties.
What changes is only who stands on the landlord’s side of the agreement. Once the grant is issued, the personal representatives hold the property and take on that role, with the obligations that come with it.
Who collects the rent before the grant
Rent falling due after the death belongs to the estate. The authority to deal with an estate’s assets comes from the grant, and until it is issued nobody can give a receipt as landlord or deal with the property. The money still accrues, and it is accounted for once the grant arrives (GOV.UK, Applying for probate: what is probate, checked 14 September 2026).
Write to the tenant early. A short letter saying the landlord has died, that the tenancy continues unchanged, that probate is being applied for and where to pay in the meantime prevents the two things that go wrong: a tenant who stops paying because they think the agreement ended, and a tenant who keeps paying into an account that has been frozen.
Since 1 May 2026 there is no section 21 notice
The old no-fault route is gone for private tenancies in England. On 1 May 2026 the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 abolished assured shorthold tenancies and ended section 21 “no fault” evictions in the private rented sector in England (GOV.UK, checked 1 November 2026).
legislation.gov.uk records that chapter of the Housing Act 1988 as omitted from that date for specified purposes (Housing Act 1988, section 21, checked 14 September 2026).
GOV.UK’s landlord guidance has moved with it: it says a landlord with an assured periodic tenancy needs a section 8 notice to evict, and that after 31 July 2026 a section 21 notice cannot usually be used to start an eviction (GOV.UK, Evicting tenants in England, checked 1 November 2026). Older advice about serving two months’ notice and getting the property back automatically is out of date, whatever the date on the tenancy agreement.
The practical consequence for an estate is blunt: vacant possession is no longer something the landlord can require. It has to be justified on a ground, and a judge decides.
Selling the house with somebody living in it
There is a ground for selling, and it has conditions attached. It applies where the landlord intends to sell a freehold or leasehold interest in the dwelling house, and it cannot be used unless the current tenancy began at least one year before the date the notice takes effect (Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2, checked 1 November 2026).
The notice period is the part that catches sellers out. A notice relying on the sale ground must give four months, and possession proceedings cannot begin later than twelve months after the notice was served (Housing Act 1988, section 8, checked 1 November 2026). Four months of notice, plus court time, is a long way from a quick sale.
The alternative is to sell with the tenant in place. The buyer takes the property subject to the tenancy, which suits a landlord buyer and rules out anyone buying a home to live in, so it usually shows up in the price.
If it is the tenant who has died
The rule that mentions death in the possession grounds is about the tenant, not the landlord. Ground 7 applies where the tenancy has devolved on a new tenant under the will or intestacy of the former tenant, and proceedings must begin within twelve months of the death.
Succession comes first, though, and it takes the tenancy outside that ground. Where the sole tenant under an assured tenancy dies and their spouse or civil partner was occupying the home as their only or principal home, the tenancy vests in that person and does not devolve under the will (Housing Act 1988, section 17, checked 1 November 2026).
Partners who never married are included. The same section provides that a person who was living with the tenant as if they were a married couple or civil partners is treated as the tenant’s spouse or civil partner (Housing Act 1988, section 17, checked 1 November 2026). Succession of this kind is available once: where the tenant had themselves succeeded to the tenancy, it does not run again.
Older regulated tenancies are more generous still. Under the Rent Act, a surviving spouse or civil partner residing in the home becomes the statutory tenant, and a person who was living with the original tenant as if they were a married couple or civil partners is treated as the spouse (Rent Act 1977, Schedule 1, checked 1 November 2026).
The duties that come with the house
Whoever holds the property holds the landlord’s obligations, and an estate is no exception. A landlord must keep the property safe and free from health hazards, make sure gas and electrical equipment is safely installed and maintained, provide an Energy Performance Certificate, and protect the tenant’s deposit in a government-approved scheme (GOV.UK, Renting out your property: landlord responsibilities, checked 1 November 2026).
Two of those need attention within weeks rather than months. The annual gas safety check falls due on its own anniversary regardless of the death, and a deposit sitting in a scheme in the dead person’s name needs the scheme told who is now responsible for it.
Repairs do not pause either. GOV.UK says a landlord is normally responsible for repairs to the structure, the sanitary fittings and the heating and hot water systems (GOV.UK, Renting out your property: making repairs, checked 1 November 2026). The death does not suspend that, so a leak reported while the estate waits for a grant still needs dealing with.
What to do in the first month
Do four things, in this order: write to the tenant, find the tenancy agreement and the deposit scheme reference, check when the gas safety certificate expires, and tell the insurer the owner has died. Insurance is the one that bites, because a policy in the name of somebody who has died may not respond to a claim.
Then decide the destination before serving anything. Selling with the tenant in place, keeping the property as an investment for the beneficiaries, or seeking possession under the sale ground are three different routes, and the notice you serve early can foreclose the one you want.
This guidance is for England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own tenancy regimes, and the sections quoted here do not apply there (GOV.UK, Evicting tenants in England, checked 1 November 2026). For the wider job of dealing with the estate, see how probate works, and for the tax on a later sale, capital gains on inherited property.