Today we are publishing a letter sent to us regarding the death of a relative who was living in rental accommodation. 

We know the letter to be genuine but we have kept the author’s identity, and that of her late brother, confidential. 

Unfortunately they do not know the name of the lettings agency through which the property was rented, so we cannot give the right to reply that we would have liked: inevitably, therefore, the interpretation of events is through one side only, but we feel it important that we print the letter as requested.

The tragedy happened two years ago this week, but the emotions of the relatives appear still to be quite raw. 

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I am writing an open letter to you with the hope that this letter may make a difference to how people who are in the market to rent properties are treated, and I would really appreciate you reading to the bottom of this letter. 

My brother had a drug-induced seizure in his flat in Manchester and died two years ago [this week]. He had been renting this flat for several years, following the breakdown in his relationship. My brother was living with mental health issues and had slipped initially into alcohol dependency as a way to cope. 

As I am sure you can imagine, as his family, we were extremely shocked by this tragedy. We were told by the manager of the property … that we needed to clear Jack’s flat within 48 hours. 

The way in which the letting agent informed us of our commitments was upsetting – his manner and attitude was in no way compassionate or caring. We discovered that the letting agent had sealed up the flat and we were initially told we were not allowed to go in to remove any possessions, despite us needing to find clothes to send to the undertakers. 

My brother has two young children, aged 12 and 8 at the time, who wanted to go to the flat to collect items and spend some time there as a way to start their grief process. We had to ask for the barricade to be removed before we could let them in as we were fearful that this would be very difficult for them to witness. 

Once we accessed the flat, I could see it was neat and tidy just as my brother liked things to be. However, I was absolutely horrified at the general state of repair of the flat. The carpet was loose on the stairs, which I almost tripped down several times (my brother had offered to fix this as he was a carpet fitter but was told no). There was a hole in his ceiling and loose wires hanging down and he had recently had an infestation of mice. 

Whilst legally we may have had to move my brother’s belongings, I can tell you, this whole experience has been horrific. From not being allowed to access his possessions, having to worry about what his children would have to experience, then having 48 hours in which to clear his flat has been extremely traumatic for me to deal with. 

The way in which this was handled by the manager and the letting agent of this property made us feel like my brother’s life and death was not important or valued. When I asked the manager of the property why we couldn’t access the property and when my brother had paid his rent until, he outwardly scoffed at the answer and explained that my brother was in rental arrears. 

Not only were we contending with the tragic loss of my brother, we had to contend with the manager of the property adding more stress and pain into an already distressing situation. 

The facts are, yes it is likely my brother did owe money to a letting agent and yes he was living with addiction, but people who are living with addiction are often misunderstood, maligned and are marginalised by our society. Addiction is an illness and most people in addiction have suffered from some form of trauma in their lives and taking drugs or drinking is a way to self-medicate. 

I am hopeful that by writing this letter to you that should you feel it was of interest to your publication it would be printed in order to help spread awareness to estate and letting agents to think about their procedures and approaches to grieving family members who have experienced a sudden tragic loss like ours, to approach it with more compassion and empathy than we have experienced. 

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