Rentals in Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce and Stuart
For landlords and property managers
When a tenant dies in a unit, or a unit turns out to hold a biohazard, you have a building to protect and a family to deal with. Here is what helps.
Picked up day and night, seven days a week
First steps
- If you find a tenant has died, call 911 and do not enter the room further.
- Once the home is released, secure it: change or check the locks and note who has keys.
- Keep the room closed and the air conditioning running at a steady setting. Do not open the unit to air it out.
- Tell neighbors in attached units only what they need to know, and only if odor or fluids may reach them.
Do not ask maintenance staff to clean it. Employers whose workers may touch blood need a written exposure plan, protective gear and training under federal rules (OSHA).
Florida rules worth knowing
When a sole tenant dies
A landlord may recover possession when the last remaining tenant has died, rent is unpaid, belongings remain, 60 days have passed since the death, and the landlord has had no written notice of a probate estate or personal representative. Certain federally assisted units are excluded (s. 83.59).
The tenant's belongings
Until then, the belongings are not yours to dispose of. A cleanup company can remove only what is contaminated and set the rest aside for the family or estate.
Selling or re-letting later
Florida law says a homicide, suicide or death on a property is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction (s. 689.25).
When you call
Say it is a rental and whether the unit is a house, a duplex, a villa or a condo. Mention shared walls, floors or ceilings, so the company checks the next unit too. Ask for a written scope that separates cleanup from any repairs, which your usual contractors may handle.
Read next
- Unattended death cleanupWhen someone died alone at home and was found days or weeks later.
- Hoarding with biohazardsA crowded home where animal or human waste, rot or pests make it unsafe to sort alone.
- Who pays for the cleanupThe state crime victim program, insurance basics, landlords and estates.
- St. Lucie WestPart of Port St. Lucie. Gated streets and attached villas need a little planning.
Ready when you are
Call when the police and the medical examiner have finished and you are ready to talk about the cleanup. A company will ask what happened and where, then explain what it would do.
Talk to a cleanup company
An independent company that works in the Port St. Lucie area. You decide whether to hire it.
Call (772) 918-9847Picked up day and night, seven days a week
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