Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Indiana

On March 7th 2017 my parents had a renter pass away in their rental home. His daughter has changed the locks on the home and refused to give my parents her contact information or a key to the home. My parents did not have a rental agreement with the renter and the daughter did not live in the home. The daughter requested a dumpster on March 14th that was removed for non payment of use on April 4th by the dumpster company. The locks have been changed again and a letter posted on the door with contact information to arrange removal of the remaining property with a deadline of April 22nd. Two days ago, a third party, left the keys to the initial lock change on my parents porch and called telling them that he was no longer involved and that the daughter was surrendering her key also, even though she felt we did not give her sufficient time to remove the remaining property. On April 23rd, we plan to remove the property and store it in a barn that is adjacent to the property. The renter passed without paying his current month's rent and there has been no rent paid since his death. We have not had ANY personal contact with the daughter because she will not provide us with an address or phone number with which to contact her. Are we proceeding legally? Please advise. We do not want to deny the daughter any rights to the remaining property but the house was left in ruins and my parents are anxious to do repairs and recover their rental income.


Asked on 4/14/17, 10:32 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kenneth Wilk Rubino Ruman Crosmer & Polen

You can secure the house and take possession. Put any of the renter's property into storage. Send a letter to whatever last known address you have for the renter or his family and tell them that they have to pick up the property or it will be disposed of. If you don't hear from them in 60 days, you may dispose of whatever there is.

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Answered on 4/16/17, 9:40 am


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