Tenant in neighbouring flat caused a fire..liability?

yogiberr

hiya,

A tenant in the neighbouring flat caused a fire by falling asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand.Thankfully he's ok, but now it apparently falls on all the other flat owners to lose their no claims in order to rectify damage that was caused to the communal area.

I fail to see why we should suffer due to the incompetence of a fellow resident.Could we prove liability and move the onus on them to deal with the mess that they caused?

Ta,

yogi

jamie11

I fail to see why we should suffer due to the incompetence of a fellow resident.Could we prove liability and move the onus on them to deal with the mess that they caused?

I see no reason that you and the other flat owners cannot make a claim via MCOL for your losses.

geri1965_2

Who is 'them'? The tenant? You could pursue a claim against him/her if they have any personal liability cover, but if not then it's probably a non starter.

davidmcn

In theory yes. Do you have evidence? Does the tenant have money?

AdrianC

There are two questions here.

- Liability. Falling asleep with a ciggy is fairly clear negligence, so liability isn't a great issue.
- Recompense. If the tenant doesn't have insurance to cover your damage, then what? You can take out a claim against them personally, but to what benefit? You've got a CCJ against them. Great. If they can't afford to pay, then what? Bankruptcy? Does that get your bills paid? No.

xylophone

Surely there is a "common parts" insurance in place?

When I owned a flat, all owners were required by the lease to insure their own properties individually and pay for a block insurance through the freeholder- all policies were through the same insurer so there were never any problems regarding liability.

yogiberr

hiya,

Long story, but the property management company (a joke) state that it now falls to the buildings insurance of each owner..Some of whom buy their insurance directly from said management company.It sounds like I'd need to get a majority agreement from the other owners to even begin going down the MCOL route.

Thanks for all the replies....To be honest, a statement from the people concerned that:

1) They realise that their actions put the lives of other in danger.
2) They'll take steps to ensure that it can't happen again.
3) They'll acknowledge the financial and general inconvenience that their actions caused..

..would have been enough for me..I wasn't looking to hammer someone for liability..Sadly, even that single, basic gesture was beyond them..

Thanks all, for your time.

yogi

G_M

Is this to do with buildings of contents insurance?

In most blocks of flats there is an insurance policy covering the building, arranged by the freeholder (or management company) and paid for by each leaseholder via their annual service charge.

If a fire is caused, a claim is made from the block builings policy, and yes, that will affect future premiums.

Whether the fire was caused by a leaseholder, one of their tenants, or a 3rd party makes litle difference.

If it is contents (usually arranged by each leaseholder) then it would be for each leaseholder to claim seperately. Certainly, either the leaseholder, or their insurance company if a claim is made, could sue the negligent tenant and provided a court agreed the negliget behavior was responsible and award may be made against the tenant

That award could be for the entire cost of damage, or the cost of the policy excess and/or increased future premiums, depending if the insurer or leaseholder sued the tenant