Home insurance expert,,is my fish tank covered,,is my neighbour under me for leaks...

craggs

Im looking into taking some home insurance out,,i live in council so they have there own buildings.

I have a fish tank if it leaks am i covered and is my neighbour under me covered if it leaks through.

Im told different views 1)he will claim of my insurance and 2)Im told he's insurance has to sort him out its nothin to do with me.

I know ive to ask and sit and ring loads of companys asking the question.

But if others no of insurance comp and had experiance in the above questions id be very happy to hear.

bryanb

Forget answer 2, If you cause neighbours problem, it's down to you, or your insurance.

craggs

thanks,i thought that but the person who told me cramed it in my mind.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hold on a mo....

If your fishtank leaks, then there may be damage to the buildings and as you have already said, the buildings are council owned. This has nothing to do with your neighbour.

Also, as with all things like this, you have to be shown to be negligent before you would be liable for any damage caused by your fishtank leaking.

If you wake up one morning to find your fish swimming in 2 inches of water because the tank sprang a leak, this is entirely fortuitous. The council (and your neighbour if he decides to try it on) would be laughed out of court if they tried to hold you responsible.

If you had a leak in your fishtank, where you were having to top it up every week or so, you would be "on notice" that there was a problem with your fishtank. That would mean that if the leak got worse and you had done nothing about it (and wake up to 2 inches of water in the tank), then it could be argued that you were negligent.

Moving on to the "escape of water" cover -

Keeping the same theme, when you wake up in the morning to the empty tank, the water will have leaked all over your carpet. This would not usually be a problem unless you have a 100% wool carpet (which would shrink). The "escape of water" cover should pick up the cost of replacing the carpet if it is damaged, as well as anything else that is YOURS and damaged by the water. What it will not cover is THE FISHTANK!! Escape of water covers only the damage caused by the water, not the original item that held the water.

Now we move on to "accidental damage".

It's the morning again and your tank is empty. You remember that last night you were moving the room around and you banged the corner of your bookcase into the tank. On closer inspection, you note that you have actually caused a crack in the glass and the water has leaked out of the tank.

In this instance, not only is the wet carpet covered, but the tank would be too provided you have cover that includes Accidental Damage.

In all of these examples, if your neighbour decides to shout at you for the water coming through their ceiling, you can refer them to your insurers who will tell them exactly where they can shove their claim on your behalf!!

All the best.

dave_behave

People need to be careful with their advice.

If water leaks and damages your neighbours contents, they will need to claim on their own contents insurance and their insurer would then consider a recovery from your contents insurers.

Your contents insurance covers your contents, not your neighbours (directly).

bryanb

dave_behave wrote: »

People need to be careful with their advice.

If water leaks and damages your neighbours contents, they will need to claim on their own contents insurance and their insurer would then consider a recovery from your contents insurers.

Your contents insurance covers your contents, not your neighbours (directly).

How does that work if the neighbour has no contents insurance?

Oscar_The_Grouch

Wrong Dave. All contents insurances in the UK provide liability cover. This will indemnify you for damage caused by your negligence (or possibly other Tort, especially considering Rylands v Fletcher) for any third party damage and even for damage under contract when it relates to a property rental.

There is no need for a third party to claim on their own insurance and then leave it to the insurer to effect a recovery under subrogation. This could involve issues relating to differences between the indemnity and reinstatement settlement costs as well as the loss of excess (you will of course be aware that the excess is only recoverable once all other insured costs have been recouped) and no claims discount for the third party. Effectively, your suggestion would incurr costs for the third party that would not be aparant by a direct claim.

This is, of course, assuming liability is accepted for the event.

Hope this helps.

bryanb

So back to post 2 then

Oscar_The_Grouch

bryanb wrote: »

How does that work if the neighbour has no contents insurance?

It doesn't !!! Hence my further post.

Incisor

dave_behave wrote: »

People need to be careful with their advice.

If water leaks and damages your neighbours contents, they will need to claim on their own contents insurance and their insurer would then consider a recovery from your contents insurers.

Your contents insurance covers your contents, not your neighbours (directly).

But the buck stops with you. If the neighbour has no insurance, he claims from your insurance, and if you have none he claims from you. Or the nasty one is if he has insurance, but you don't, his insurance co will find a fat barrister and sue you.

FlameCloud

They would still need to prove negligence though.

As to what you'd cover it under, I'd be suprised if EOW peril was worded to allow anything other than plumbed in fish tanks to be covered, so IMO it would have to be under AD.