GOVERNMENT data published earlier this month shows that 48 County Durham and Teesside surnames have unclaimed estates.

An estate is classed as unclaimed when a person with no will or known relatives passes away.

‘Estates’ can mean anything from property to belongings and you won’t know exactly how much an individual’s estate is worth until you enquire- this means you could be owed millions without even knowing it.

Here is everything you need to know about unclaimed estates in the region- including how you can see if you are eligible for a claim.

Unclaimed estates in County Durham and Teesside

StripeHomes (property developer) suggests that there is estimated £1.744bn worth of unclaimed property lying vacant across England and Wales.

In the North East alone, there is an estimated £65,381,860 worth of unclaimed estates- that is a lot of money to be left unclaimed, especially as names are removed from the estates list after 30 years.

Here is a list of people who were born or died in County Durham and Teesside- do you recognise any of the names?

 

Who is entitled to an estate?

You might be entitled to one of these estates and not even know it, as even distant relatives are eligible to claim them.

Managing Director of StripeHomes, James Forrester, said that this could be one unexpected way to get your foot on the property ladder- especially if the deceased has an unclaimed house.

He adds: It makes for quite depressing reading when you consider the struggle many are facing to secure a property of their own while such a substantial value of bricks and mortar is currently left tangled in red tape, only for the Government to take control of it after 30 years. 

“While procedures need to be followed to ensure anyone with a legitimate claim has the right to do so, 30 years seems a very long time to leave an estate lingering in limbo when it could be contributing positively to the current housing crisis.”

People are entitled to the estate in the order shown below:

  1. husband, wife or civil partner
  2. children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on
  3. mother or father
  4. brothers or sisters who share both the same mother and father, or their children (nieces and nephews)
  5. half brothers or sisters or their children (nieces and nephews of the half blood or their children). ‘Half ’ means they share only one parent with the deceased
  6. grandparents
  7. uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins or their descendants)
  8. half uncles and aunts or their children (first cousins of the half blood or their children). ‘Half’ means they only share one grandparent with the deceased, not both.
     

If your relationship to the deceased is traced through someone who survived the deceased but has since died, you will need to confirm who is entitled to deal with that person’s estate.

If you think you are eligible to make a claim to a deceased person’s estate, you can do so at the following Government link.

Have you ever been eligible to claim an estate? Tell us your story in the comments.