Grandmother Jessie Alice Bonney nee Evison.

[diana2646]

Hi, my grandmother Jessie Alice Bonney lived with my grandfather Thomas Edgar Bonney at 31 West Ella Road, Harlesden, London.  My grandfather died age 40 on 6th January 1925.
I am trying to find out if the house they lived in was rented or if they owned it.  I know at that time, quite a lot of houses especially in London were rented.

I have thought about finding out if my grandfather left a will, as I thought that if the house was owned by them, there would be something regarding it in his will, but am not sure how to find out if he left a will.

The reason I would like to know is that my grandmother moved to 66 College Street, Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire sometime between 1939 and 1945 to be housekeeper for her two distant cousins.  She appears on the London electoral roles in 39 and then appears on the Cleethorpes ones in 1945/6 but as you know, there weren't any electoral rolls taken in the war years.  I thought if she owned the house in London, there would be a record of the sale with the land registry, but obviously not if it was rented.  My brother and I would just like to try and find out when she moved to Cleethorpes. 

Thank you for any help.  I hope I have explained everything properly. 

[jorose]

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

It does not appear there was a probate record for Thomas Edgar which would suggest he didn't have enough property to warrant formal probate (many people did not; only somewhere in the realms of 20% of estates hit the estate tax threshold).

This would indicate to me they did not own the property.

[diana2646]

Thank you very much jorose for taking the trouble to look for me.  It was a long shot but worth a try.

Do you know if rented properties in those days were mainly through the local authority or private landlords?  I don't suppose that the present day Brent Council would have records going back that far?