Council Tenants Bonfire cause damaged to my property

triple-clones

Our next door neighbour had a bonfire, which he left unattended and it set light to his 2 sheds. The fire service where called and dealt with the fire, however it has caused our patio doors to crack and burnt down two of our fence panels.

Who should we be seeking to claim from?

The Tenants don't have any insurance (or much money being on benefits) and the council say we can't claim on their insurance as it was a bonfire, which leaves our insurance company who say we need to claim from the council (who they say are liable for the tenants)

Does anyone have any ideas who we should be chasing? we don't really want to claim on our insurance.

MrsE_2

triple-clones wrote: »

Our next door neighbour had a bonfire, which he left unattended and it set light to his 2 sheds. The fire service where called and dealt with the fire, however it has caused our patio doors to crack and burnt down two of our fence panels.

Who should we be seeking to claim from?

The Tenants don't have any insurance (or much money being on benefits) and the council say we can't claim on their insurance as it was a bonfire, which leaves our insurance company who say we need to claim from the council (who they say are liable for the tenants)

Does anyone have any ideas who we should be chasing? we don't really want to claim on our insurance.

Does you house insurance not include legal help (most do) who will get it off the council for you?

FlameCloud

Your insurers need to deal with the claim as an insured peril- fire- has caused damage to the property. They will then seek a recovery from the third party to try and regain their money.

triple-clones

If I do go through my insurance, will I not have to pay the excess and risk higher premiums? I believe the claim should be dealt with by council.

If no one agrees then I guess I'll go back to our insurance company.

mcjordi

iirc you will have to pay the excess initially but, if a successful claim is made against the council/tenant then you should get it back, the claim will still be on your record as such as a non fault claim.

relynutz

i dont quite see why the council are responsible, i am now a " council tenant" and i would expect the council to clear up after my "mistake" i dont see how they would be liable either ?

triple-clones

relynutz wrote: »

i dont quite see why the council are responsible, i am now a " council tenant" and i would expect the council to clear up after my "mistake" i dont see how they would be liable either ?

I guess you mean "i wouldn't expect"

Why should I be responsible for the damage? If the Tenant is on benefits and has no means to cover the damage then it falls to the council surely? Like the landlord is responsible for issues of anti-social behaviour?

I don't want to go to much further down this route as I will probably offend someone.

RobertoMoir

triple-clones wrote: »

The Tenants don't have any insurance (or much money being on benefits) and the council say we can't claim on their insurance as it was a bonfire, which leaves our insurance company who say we need to claim from the council (who they say are liable for the tenants)

Does anyone have any ideas who we should be chasing? we don't really want to claim on our insurance.

I think you need to claim from your insurance, and if they want to try and recover money from someone else too that's up to them. I'm not sure if you'd have to recover your excess yourself, which if so is just one reason these policies have an option for legal help.