Short answer. The executor or administrator. They have the right to possession and management of both the real and personal estate of the deceased, for as long as this remains genuinely necessary to pay the debts and cover the expenses of administration.
What the law says
An executor or administrator shall have the right to the possession and management of the real as well as the personal estate of the deceased so long as it is necessary for the payment of the debts and the expenses of administration.
Rule 84, Section 3 — Executor or administrator to retain whole estate to pay debts, and to administer estate not willed. Read the full provision →
Possession rests with the executor or administrator, not the heirs directly
The rule gives the executor or administrator — not the heirs individually — the right to the possession and management of the estate. While the estate is being administered, the heirs' claim to the property is a claim to eventual distribution, not a present right to take physical possession ahead of the administrator, however eager they may be to do so.
This holds even where the heirs are entirely and genuinely in agreement among themselves about who should ultimately end up with which particular piece of the property.
Both real and personal property are covered
This right extends to the real as well as the personal estate of the deceased. It is not limited to cash or movable property — land, buildings, and other real property held by the decedent fall under the administrator's possession and management just as much as personal belongings, vehicles, and bank accounts do.
There is no separate carve-out anywhere for real property specifically that would let heirs take earlier possession of land while the administrator retains only movables in the meantime.
The right lasts only as long as it is actually necessary
This is not an indefinite or absolute right. It holds so long as it is necessary for the payment of the debts and the expenses of administration. Once the debts and administration expenses no longer require the property to remain in the administrator's possession, the basis for withholding it from the heirs weakens accordingly and distribution can proceed.
This ties the administrator's possession to a real, functional purpose rather than granting control indefinitely regardless of the estate's actual need for it.
Why this matters for heirs eager to take over property
Heirs sometimes assume that inheritance means immediate physical control of estate property, but this rule makes clear that the administrator's possession takes precedence while debts and administration expenses remain to be settled. Understanding this sequencing — administration first, then distribution — helps set realistic expectations for heirs about when they will actually gain possession of what they stand to eventually inherit.