A spouse or civil partner that was living with the contract holder at the time of death will be treated as a joint contract holder. In cases where someone advised they were ‘living as if’ they were spouses or civil partners, it would be reasonable to consider the following as part of your investigation (though this is not an exhaustive list):
- Whether there are any children
- Whether there are any joint finances
- Whether there are any joint benefit claims
- What the electoral register says
- What you know of the CH
- Whether there is a single person council tax claim
For Succession to be considered, a property inspection should also be carried out to confirm the above details with sight of relevant proofs as needed.
If granted, a letter confirming the outcome will need to be issued to the priority successor, with a copy of the original contract holders’ contract, along with an RHW2 form and a copy of the most recent gas and electrical certs.
- The TMI will need to be updated with the relevant details.
- The existing rent account should be closed with a new rent account created. The date in which this is actioned depends on when notification of death was received and when succession status was determined.
Example 1: If we are notified of a potential succession ‘two days’ after the CH’s date of death, and the succession investigation is completed by day 21, then the succession will take effect from the date we were notified. A new rent account should be set up on YODA, and the old rent account will be closed down. However, if the investigation process takes Approx 6 weeks, then the original account will remain active during this time, and will then be backdated once the succession investigation is complete.
Example 2: If we are notified on day ‘37’ of a potential succession, and succession is granted following investigation, then the new account start date will be one month from date of death. Again, a new account would be set up on YODA for the new successor and will commence one month from date of death.
A new rent payment card should be issued.