Post date: Jul 12, 2016 3:16:24 AM
Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 1710.2, if a prior occupant of the rental unit died in the unit within the last three years, the owner or the owner’s must disclose this fact to a prospective tenant when the tenant offers to rent or lease the unit.
The landlord must disclose the basic facts, whether the death was natural, accidental, a suicide or a murder. However, landlords are not required to disclose whether a previous tenant was HIV positive or died from AIDS.
While the landlord does not have to disclose any deaths prior to the past three years, California law requires that landlords provide basic information about any death in the apartment if directly asked. In other words, if a death occurred 12 years prior, he would not have to volunteer that information but would have to provide basic information if asked by the prospective tenant.
DEALING WITH TENANT DEATH IN UNIT:
Suppose that a tenant who has a tenancy for a specified term (for example, a one-year lease) dies. The tenancy continues until the end of the lease term, despite the tenant's death. Responsibility for the rest of the lease term passes to the tenant's executor or administrator.
Now suppose instead that the tenant had a month-to-month tenancy. In this case, the tenancy is terminated (ended) by notice of the tenant's death. The tenancy ends on the 30th day following the tenant's last payment of rent before the tenant's death. No 30-day or 60-day notice is required to terminate the tenancy.
A landlord must disclose to a new applicant if there was a death in the unit and the manner of the death UNLESS it was due to HIV or AIDS for three years from the death of the previous renter. (CA CC §1710.2).