[Landlord SC-US] How do you deal with the death of a tenant?
I have a small cabin that I normally rent for $1k. It was empty when I found out about a woman I knew that was about to become homeless, so I let her rent the cabin. She was on SS disability and could only afford to pay $400 a month.
She was a very private person and only texted me to let me know she had posted rent (always a money order in an envelope taped to the door). She didn't text me the first of April. After a couple of texts with no response I called the sheriff for a wellness check and they found her dead. The coroner estimated she had been dead for a week.
I had to hire a bio cleanup crew. The had to remove tiles, flooring and a section of sub-flooring. The bill was $4k. My insurance deductible is $3.5k and insurance paid the rest.
Her stepmother came from out of town to get her things, but only took a couple of items of value and left us everything else including her beat up old car. My wife and I are a bit overwhelmed. We took her non-perishable food to a food bank, and made several trips to the local charity with her other stuff and a lot of stuff to the dump. I have a guy coming tomorrow to give an estimate on repairing the floor.
We found the title to her car, but I don't a clue how to transfer it. It is a 2007 Kia Spectra worth approximately $700.
Any landlords that can give any advice at all would be appreciated. Like I said, my wife and I are a bit overwhelmed. I've been a landlord on and off since I was 27 (I'm now 67), but I've never had to deal with anything like this.
TIA