Tenants left property unheated over Xmas

mackemdave

This has resulted in burst pipes and flooding

The loss adjuster attended yesterday and has left an action.The let is managed by the Estate Agents and while they were at the property with the Loss Adjuster the neighbour,its a semi detatched bungalow,asked the Estate Agent to go into his property as the floor boards in his lounge were lifting.The water has obviously seeped through to his home.

I know he cant claim on my insurance,will he be able to claim on his insurance and they in turn claim via my insurance

Any help appreciated

CloudCuckooLand

Your neighbour can present his costs direct to you. Whether your insurance covers it or not, depends on your policy. Whether you wish to pay direct or use your insurance, depends on what effect you think it will have on your premiums.

He does not have to use his own insurance, if he does not wish to. It may be sensible to do so, to get good quality repairs, swift action etc. But he does not have to risk his insurance premiums because of an issue coming out of your property.

You can try to pursue the Tenant for the costs/effect on insurance. Depends on how certain you can be that they "left property unheated". Is your boiler up to scratch, or will the tenant say it was left on and must have cut out. For example, some old boilers without battery backup on the control panel, may well stay off if there is a power cut...

Messy. Get all the insurers involved to fight it out over who pays, but at least get things drying out, as it can take months for that to be completed.

geri1965_2

His insurers would only pursue a claim against you if they thought his loss had been caused by your negligence.

I very much doubt that they will bother as this would be extremely difficult to prove.

Mallotum_X

Presumably you have informed the tenants that they will be losing their deposit and you will be seeking them to cover any other costs?

Incyder

I don't see that the tenants can be blamed directly unless they had it in writing that the heating must be left on at all times. Common sense won't come into it with regards to blame and fault.
Most boilers fire up via a thermostat, so, is there one fitted at the house, was it working, was the boiler switched off at the panel ?

BitterAndTwisted

I'd be blaming the tenants directly if they admitted that they'd left the heating off in the coldest weather for twenty years! Tenants are expected to act in a "tenant-like" manner and leaving the place unheated while you swan off for a week or two over Christmas when there's ice and snow on the ground before you even left isn't acting it by any stretch of the imagination.

mackemdave

[QUOTE=.

You can try to pursue the Tenant for the costs/effect on insurance. Depends on how certain you can be that they "left property unheated". Is your boiler up to scratch, or will the tenant say it was left on and must have cut out. For example, some old boilers without battery backup on the control panel, may well stay off if there is a power cut...

Messy. Get all the insurers involved to fight it out over who pays, but at least get things drying out, as it can take months for that to be completed.[/QUOTE]
The boiler was serviced the week before the tenants movedin which was Sept 10....They have admitted to the management co that they didnt leave on any heating while they were away despite being sent a letter advising them to do so.Im having to claim on insurance as the damge according to the Fire Brigade who were called out is "substantial".The Loss Adjuster was on site yesterday with the management company to view the damage.Carpets are being remove tomorrow and electrics dried out before de humidifiers are brought in.

olly300

Incyder wrote: »

I don't see that the tenants can be blamed directly unless they had it in writing that the heating must be left on at all times. Common sense won't come into it with regards to blame and fault.

Sorry the tenants are at fault if they turned off the heating completely.

There were enough warnings in the media from the end of November about heating being turned off, going away for a few days and burst pipes due to the early start of the cold weather.

Whether you like it or not tenants have some basic maintenance responsibilities on the properties they are renting and this is one of them.

Other ones include not blocking drains, not blocking the toilet and repairing dripping taps.

Incyder wrote: »

Most boilers fire up via a thermostat, so, is there one fitted at the house, was it working, was the boiler switched off at the panel ?

Not necessarily. I've now lived in 2 properties with thermostatic valves on all the radiators so there has been no thermostat. As long as the timer doesn't short-circuit for any reason then the heating will come on again if there is a power cut though it won't come on at exactly the correct time.

mackemdave

Incyder wrote: »

I don't see that the tenants can be blamed directly unless they had it in writing that the heating must be left on at all times. Common sense won't come into it with regards to blame and fault.
Most boilers fire up via a thermostat, so, is there one fitted at the house, was it working, was the boiler switched off at the panel ?

Thermostat is working and the bolier is in the attic so not easy to switch off......

They did have in writing advising them to leave heating on if property was going to be unoccupied for any length of time

olly300

mackemdave wrote: »

Thermostat is working and the bolier is in the attic so not easy to switch off......

They did have in writing advising them to leave heating on if property was going to be unoccupied for any length of time

You need to work out how to get the money off the tenants if the insurers won't pay for all the damage.

If you do a search on this board there are landlords who have managed to get money out of tenants for other things, so I think some of their methods should give you ideas particularly if the tenants are working in full-time permanent jobs.

BitterAndTwisted

In that case, I think you should be keeping track of every single penny this costs you because I can feel a legal claim coming on. These idiots need to be taught a lesson. Not students are they?