What Happened To This Woman Who Died In Her Home And Her Landlord Just Kept Taking Rent?
For more than two years, a landlord continued to collect rent from a deceased tenant.
Sheila Seleoane’s 61-year-old body was discovered in her home in Peckham, London, in February of this year. The cops forced their way into her third-floor apartment and discovered her “skeletal state.”
Police determined there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death, which most likely occurred in August 2019.
Sheila, who was not married and had an estranged family in South Africa, was discovered dead on her sofa in February 2022, according to the Daily Mail.
Her neighbors claimed that they had repeatedly reported a foul stench coming from her flat to the housing authority as far back as October 2019.
Following repeated complaints about the smell and letters piling up outside her house, cops were called twice to investigate. However, the police believed she was “safe and well.” Officers felt they didn’t have enough reason to barge in and left.
Sheila was last seen by her neighbors in April of this year, and she paid her last monthly rent in August of this year.
When she failed to pay her rent, the Peabody Housing group applied to have the rent deducted directly from her Universal Credit payments.
Her rent was paid to the housing society each month beginning in March 2020 after her application was approved. However, no one attempted to contact Sheila.
Officials attempted to conduct a routine gas inspection in June 2020, but when no one responded, the gas supply to the flat was disconnected.
Peabody’s director of neighborhoods, Wells Chomutare, stated, “We had the picture, but we didn’t paint it by connecting the dots. We are not expected to force entry unless the situation is dire.”
Detectives believe she died in August 2019 after examining the best-before dates on food in her refrigerator.
According to a GP report, Sheila had a phone appointment on August 14, 2019, and stated that she felt “wheezy and sometimes out of breath.” She was supposed to see the doctor the next day, but she never showed up.
Her apartment was found to be very clean, with no signs of forced entry. There was no evidence of trauma to the skull or chest.
Sheila’s body was too decomposed for a post-mortem to determine a cause of death.
The Peabody housing group apologized to all tenants in the block for the “missed opportunities” caused by Sheila’s body being undiscovered for two and a half years.
“Any death is sad,” said Dr Julian Morris of Southwark Coroners Court, “but to lie undetected for all likelihood for over two years is difficult to fathom in 2022.”
He stated that “something went wrong,” and that there was no real communication between the rent, gas, and neighborhood management teams.
He stated that “something went wrong,” and that there had been no real communication between the rent, gas, and neighborhood management teams in their attempts to speak with Sheila.
“I do not consider those inactions had any effect on Ms Seleoane’s clinical state or saved her life as she was already dead,” the coroner added.
He stated that police had implemented new measures to ensure that controllers are given more information when entering data on incidents.
