Case shows gap in protections for deceased tenants’ families, with authorities’ property access policies varying

The brother of a 29-year-old man found dead in temporary council accommodation says he has been left bereft after his sibling’s belongings were disposed of by council contractors.

Simon Byrne had made an appointment with Brighton and Hove officials to collect the possessions of his brother Chris, who had died from a drug overdose. However, when he arrived, he discovered Chris’s lodgings had already been cleared. “I was pointed to a small suitcase in the caretaker’s [building],” he said. “The rest of his things, including his bracelets and other tangible memories, had been thrown into a skip with no opportunity for me as his only surviving family member to go through them.”