Administration of Estates Act 1925

26 Rights of action by and against personal representative

(1) For any debt (including arrears of rent) due to a deceased person, and for any injury to or right in respect of his personal estate in his lifetime, his personal representative shall have the same right of action as the deceased would have had if alive.

(2) The personal representative of a deceased person may maintain for any injury committed to the real estate of the deceased within six months before his death any action which the deceased could have maintained, but the action must be brought within one year after his death, and any damages recovered in the action shall be part of the personal estate of the deceased.

(3) A personal representative may distrain, for arrears of a rentcharge due or accruing to the deceased in his lifetime on the land affected or charged therewith, so long as the land remains in the possession of the person liable to pay the rentcharge or of the persons deriving title under him, and in like manner as the deceased might have done had he been living.

(4) A personal representative may distrain upon land for arrears of rent due or accruing to the deceased in like manner as the deceased might have done had he been living.

Such arrears may be distrained for after the termination of the lease or tenancy as if the term or interest had not determined, if the distress is made—

(a) within six months after the termination of the lease or tenancy;

(b) during the continuance of the possession of the lessee or tenant from whom the arrears were due.

The statutory enactments relating to distress for rent apply to any distress made pursuant to this subsection.

(5) An action may be maintained against' the personal representative of a deceased person for any wrong committed by the deceased within six months before his death to another person in respect of his property, real or personal, but the action shall be brought within six months after the personal representative of the deceased has taken out representation.

Any damages recovered in the proceedings shall be payable as a simple contract debt incurred by the deceased.

(6) Nothing in this section affects any right of action conferred by the [9 & 10 Vict. c. 93.] Fatal Accidents Act, 1846, as amended by any subsequent enactment.