Rental houses, apartments and managed buildings
For landlords and property managers
A tenant has died in a unit, or there has been violence in one. You have a duty to the family, to the neighbours and to the building, and probably a maintenance person asking what to do. Here is a sensible order.
Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
The first two days
Wait for the release
Do not enter while police or the coroner's staff are working. In San Luis Obispo County the coroner may put a seal on the door, and entering past it without authority can be charged as a crime. Ask the office before you touch it.
Secure the unit
Once released, lock it and keep staff, other tenants and curious relatives out until you know who is entitled to go in.
Phone your insurer
Report it and ask what the policy covers, what it wants documented and whether it needs to approve a company beforehand.
Speak with the family
Find out who the next of kin or the executor is. Belongings in the unit are theirs to deal with, and they may want particular things retrieved before cleanup.
Bring in a registered company
Agree the scope in writing: what is removed, what is cleaned, what is left for your own contractor to rebuild.
Belongings, and what you may remove
A cleanup company will remove contaminated items because they are a hazard: a soaked mattress, carpet, a chair. It should photograph them first. Everything else in the unit belongs to the tenant or the tenant's estate.
What a landlord may do with a deceased tenant's property, and when the unit can be re-let, are legal questions with deadlines attached. Ask your attorney or your landlord association before you clear anything that is not contaminated.
The rest of the building
Odor travels through shared hallways and ductwork, and fluids can pass through a floor into the ceiling below. Tell the company about adjoining units so it can check them. Tell neighbouring tenants only what they need to know: that there was a death or an incident, that a specialist firm is dealing with it and when the work will be finished.
If the unit is in a managed complex, think about where the crew will park and which entrance it will use. A side door and a mid-morning start draw less attention than the front steps at five o'clock.
Who pays in a rental
Usually the owner hires and pays, then looks to the building's insurance, the tenant's renters policy or the tenant's estate. After a crime in a residence, the state compensation board can reimburse an individual who paid for cleanup. Whether an owner in your position qualifies is something to ask the board directly, at 800-777-9229.
The general picture is in Who pays for biohazard cleanup?
Questions from owners and managers
Can I choose the company, or must the family?
If you own the unit and are paying, the choice is normally yours. It is courteous, and practical, to tell the family which firm is coming and when.
How do I know when the unit can be rented again?
Ask the cleanup company for a written description of what it removed and treated. Then have your own contractor replace flooring and drywall. Take legal advice on anything you are required to tell the next tenant.
The incident was in a common area. Does that change things?
Close the area off and call. A stairwell, laundry room or car park is cleaned the same way, and other tenants should be kept away until it is done.
Whenever suits you
Hand the room to people whose trade this is
Two sentences about the situation are plenty. You then hear how the firm would tackle it and what it would bill. Yes or no is yours alone to say, today or next week.
The number for Santa Maria and the valley
Whoever picks up belongs to a cleanup firm that takes jobs from Guadalupe up to Grover Beach. It is a separate business from this website. Name your town, say what sort of place it is, and ask anything.
Call (805) 362-1926Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
The call may be recorded. How this works is set out in the referral disclosure.