Landlords buildings cover - fire damage

JDi

Property i own and rent out suffered a washing machine fire earlier, thankfully tennants ok.

The wooden flooring has been damaged badly though and the whole house suffered smoke damage. I have landlords building cover on the property. Just wondering what extent of things it will generally cover??
I dont have access to my policy booklet tonight so wondered if anyone had any idea

Flooring? re-decorating? Carpets? Etc

Thankyou for any input

dimbo61

That all depends on how good the policy is and what is covers.
Did you have an electrical inspection and certificate done before renting.
Who owns the washing machine ? PAT tested at any time ?

JDi

Policy is with AXA so fairly decent.

No electrical inspection officially but wiring is sound (im an electrician and had previously gone through all the wiring). Machine is tennant property and wasn't PAT tested (nobody does this in a house). Apparently the machine is a brand with known faults according to the fire officer and the report will state this to be the cause of the fire.

Regards

csgohan4

indesit, whirlpool, hotpoint???


Can you not claim from the tenant since it's their machine that caused it?


Your tenants got what they paid for a washing machine.

marliepanda

I'm glad David Tennant was unhurt in this incident. What a loss he would be.

However, he needs to claim off the washing machine company for the damage to his floor.

davidmcn

csgohan4 wrote: »

Can you not claim from the tenant since it's their machine that caused it?

On what basis would they be liable? There's no negligence (that we know of).

G_M

If it's a known fault, and the manufacturer has accepted the fault, or a court has determined the fault exists, then yes, you (or better, your insurers) could claim off the manufacturers.

But 'known fault' could simply mean that Twitter or suchlike has identified a trend and Joe Public is claiming a manufacturing fault. That's very different as the M would likely deny responsibilty, leading to a potentially very long, and complex, legal case.

Most decent insurance policies would cover fire, and that would include making good any consequential damage.

Miss_Samantha

If there are real known faults then the tenant himself may have been negligent.

Anyway, it is probably easier to claim off the building insurance and let the insurer go after whoever they think is responsible, if anyone.
You could try to claim you excess from the tenant if you have good evidence to support any negligence.