Definition of malicious damage

peredur_2 · 18 February 2009 at 5:02PM

Hi All,

I rent out our first house and about 3 weeks ago one of the tennats set fire to the house (deep joy). We are still waiting on the insurance company's decision on covering the damage (easily five figures

) as there is a sticking point as to whether the damage was malicious or not. The tennant in question had been an excellent tenant for 2.5 years, he had painted and decorated the house for us, he had kept the garden under control and had done some gardening at our present home. He has been charged with "Arson with intent to endanger life", which is probably as malicious as it gets. When he was picked up by the police he was very very drunk and when asked if there was anyone else in the house he answered that he did not know. He has since been remanded in custody and a trial date has been set pending various reports, one of which will be psychiatric.

My question is - if the insurance company find against our claim on the grounds that the charge is pretty malicious, can we appeal against their decision? It is our understanding from a letter of apology that the tennant has written to us unbidden that he (in his own words) "has issues with alcohol abuse and mental health issues" that he needs help with (major understatement). Would that (or more specifically the psychiatric report) negate the "malicious" bit in as much that it looks as if he was not in control of his senses/faculties when he set the fire? I do realise that I could discuss this with the insurance company, but until they come to a decision I do not want to be pushing them one way or the other.

This looks like a first time post, but I was a member ages ago and forgot my details so am starting again. D'OH!

Thanks in advance as always.

dacouch · 18 February 2009 at 5:06PM

Can you tell us which Insurer your with so then we can read their policy and see their definition of malicious

peredur_2 · 18 February 2009 at 5:34PM

Zurich.

Thanks.

cogito · 18 February 2009 at 5:54PM

Fire damage is fire damage. There wouldn't normally be an exclusion of fire started maliciously. I'm not clear where the issue is.

dacouch · 18 February 2009 at 6:10PM

I would tend to agree, there is a section in the policy specically covering Fire and Insurance has a definition of fire which this should come under.

Zurich a decent company, it apppears a valid claim so I would not expect any problems.

Its normaly best to use your own builders rather than use the Insurers recommended builders

peredur_2 · 18 February 2009 at 7:28PM

Thanks all. The insurers are seeking a fire report from the fire service and I am awaiting further notice from them. I am obviously hoping that it will all come right, but it has been 18 days since logging the claim and there is still stalling from them so I am just getting a bit edgy. It will be close to £20K to reapair everything which is money we do not have.

dacouch · 18 February 2009 at 7:41PM

Its standard for any Insurer to request a fire report in any fire they have to ensure the fire was not an arson caused by you for financial gain.

On top of the repair costs the policy will normally cover the loss of rental income you will lose.

Don't worry you have a decent Insurer things should go through ok, may be worth getting a quote from a decent local builder while you wait. The loss adjuster will normally be looking for three quotes on this type of claim. As a general rule of thumb its normally best not to use the builder they recommend. If your prefered builder is more expensive than theirs they normally allow your builder to match or beat their quote.

FlameCloud · 18 February 2009 at 10:40PM

This is a fire claim, trying to claim otherwise would be spurious at best.

What type of damage are we looking at here- major structural works or simply smoke damage? If its major structural works, I'd be asking for a surveyors involvement in the claim.

peredur_2 · 19 February 2009 at 8:55AM

There has already been a surveyor in and done a report, it's just that everything seems to have ground to a halt and I guess that I am filling in time by talking about it because there does not seem to be anything else I can do at the mo'.

dacouch · 19 February 2009 at 10:50AM

Do as a lot of people in a similar position as you have done and ring the Insurer direct, ask whats happening etc you should find them very helpful

peredur_2 · 20 February 2009 at 10:34AM

I have spoken to the insurers and the decision is with their technical dept at the moment <deep sigh>.

Definition of malicious damage

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