Excess - Us or landlady?

tenmah

Thanks again everyone.

Just to conclude the story - my landlady did not accept the instalments and it was decided that it wasn't worth her claiming for the cooker as once the excess was taken off (which was £100 for contents!) it would not be worth it.

So we are going to buy a replacement cooker and I will just have to put it on my credit card that I have been trying so hard to pay off!!

Still, if I hadn't been doing so well in paying them off I wouldn't have been able to put the cooker on there, so there is a silver cloud there!

Because it is only one small end unit that is damaged, the insurance company have told my LL that they might not be able to replace all of it and cannot guarantee they can get one to match, so now I feel terrible.

The rest of the kitchen is fine, it is just one patch of smoke damage to a wall, the unit and the cooker - luckily nothing else was touched because we had a fire blanket that contained it, without that, well who knows!!

thanks again

sooz

Good job you had the fire blanket!
Did the LL provide it, or did you buy it? I always leave one for tenants, but often find that they don't like the look of it, & it's taken off the wall & put in the back of a cupboard
If it is only one small end cupboard, perhaps it could be replaced with open shelf end unit instead? They come in about 3 or 4 standard colours that match most kitchens.

tenmah

Yes indeed, thank goodness we did have the fire blanket, and that my daughter had presence of mind to get it.

It wasn't supplied by the LL, in one of those strange quirks of fate, it was given to me by a work colleague who was clearing out some shelves only two weeks ago!

It was upstairs as we were actually going to take it to a car boot sale next week :eek:

We also had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen (supplied by us) which we also used, although one of the firemen said they don't encourage people to tackle fires, but what is the point of having one if you don't use it.

Thank you for the idea about the open ended shelving unit - I will pass that on to my landlady.

sooz

Clever girl. I hope she is being suitably rewarded . It could have been so much worse.
What sort of grill was it - electric or gas? And was the grill pan dirty? Sorry if I'm being nosy, just wondering what caught fire, & how to prevent it. And also shuddering at the number of times I've left my own combined grill or electric oven on.

theartfullodger

Can't help thinking that the LL chose to purchase insurance with a £200 excess. For all I know it could have been £50 or £500. So surely LL should accept the consequences of their purchase decision...

Must go and find out what the excess is on my let properties...

Lodger (A Landlord)

alexlyne

Let's hope that in the future when all your debts are paid off, you can have a little bit of savings put aside for things like this.

It's a fact of life that these things happen when you least expect/need it!

Mind you, you are lucky by renting. As a homeowner, I need several hundred stashed away in a rainyday/emergency fund in the event of something going wrong with the house or the car! Often for small accidents it's not worth using insurance because of the excess, and what it'll do to next year's premiums.

N79

theartfullodger wrote: »

Can't help thinking that the LL chose to purchase insurance with a £200 excess. For all I know it could have been £50 or £500. So surely LL should accept the consequences of their purchase decision...

Must go and find out what the excess is on my let properties...

Lodger (A Landlord)

Sadly not - because the negligence of T led to the fire. T is liable for LL's out of pocket costs - in this case only the excess but in theory the whole cost of the repairs. There is no requirement, other than for the LL to act reasonably, in relation to excess costs. If the LL really knows what they are doing then this issue will be discussed in their tenancy agreement. It is in mine.

tenmah

sooz wrote: »

Clever girl. I hope she is being suitably rewarded . It could have been so much worse.
What sort of grill was it - electric or gas? And was the grill pan dirty? Sorry if I'm being nosy, just wondering what caught fire, & how to prevent it. And also shuddering at the number of times I've left my own combined grill or electric oven on.

It was a gas cooker - the type that has the grill and oven together, which I always felt was a stupid design, in terms of cooking and also think it might have contributed to it catching fire.

The grill pan was dirty, but only with one useage so not swimming in fat or anything like that, so whether it was the door being closed that caused a kind of a back draft or something, I don't know!

clutton_2

i set fire to my own cooker a few years back by putting the grill tray back under the grill and forgetting to switch it off - i called the fire brigade - and they came really fast, (2 engines !!!) and said - "had you been in bed we would have been taking your body to the mortuary right now"

having got all my tenants smoke alarms, i dashed out and got myself one


its waaaaay too easy to forget about switching off cookers/frying pans if the phone rings etc

so - a good result for OP - no physical harm and a good working compromise solution between LL & T

tenmah

I have a follow up query and I am hoping that I word it correctly this time.

I am going to replace the cooker as mentioned above.

The cooker I am replacing was brand new, in fact it was only a couple of months old.

I did mention about buying a second hand one, but my LL said she wanted a new one because she wanted to get the three year break down cover with it.

I would like to know if I have to buy a new one (which is £200) or can I buy a second hand one. I am looking to slightly upgrade in the fact that I would like one with a separate oven and grill so would be more than replacing like for like in style?

So my question is do I have to buy brand new or can I get a second hand one?

Thanks