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Serious fire and a council tenant. Advice needed
MisalignedHalo1971
Posts: 11 Forumite
Hi all,
I am in need of some advice.
We had a serious fire in our garage this week. The fire brigade attended and said it was caused by a faulty extractor fan.
Being a council tenant I immediately called the council who sent out someone to see. He was just an employee who worked for the out of hours and advised an inspector would call the next day. The inspector did not call so I had to chase this up and insist as I was concerned that 24hrs had elapsed and no electrician had called and I wanted them to assure me that the rest of our house was safe. After an argument a buildings inspector called. He walked into the garage and just stated " pppfftt this isn't our responsibility" I asked if an electrician would call and he said " no because the electric has tripped in the garage". After numerous calls to get an electrician I had to call my local MP to get some help. Within half an hr an electrician called out. He was the first to enter my home and make safe my consumer unit which supplies the rest of my home. He told me he had to be careful what he told me but one thing he noticed was that the fuse on the consumer unit was a 16 and not 32 as it should have been. He also said that when I had a house rewire 18months ago the new consumer unit they installed did not have any stickers to say when it had been installed. I would like to add that when the rewiring was done they did not rewire the garage. I know the extractor fan and wiring was not installed by the council but by a previous tenant but they were aware that the electrics were there hence why they put a fuse into the new consumer unit. The following day whilst I was at work my son informed me that someone from the council came out and once again looked in the garage and consumer unit, I have had no contact with them and unsure who this person was and have heard nothing since. I have requested that they do a full investigation and once again have heard nothing.
We have managed to salvage quite a bit but estimate the loss to be around £15,000. All the facials and roof are burnt and it's now exposed and open to the elements and I don't know if it's structurally safe.
I'm looking for advice on where I stand? . Who's responsible? Should I just shrug it off and just try to clean it up?
As I know nothing about electrics or the law I'm in real need of guidance and I'm in no position to pay for legal advice.
Many thanks in advance for any advice.
I am in need of some advice.
We had a serious fire in our garage this week. The fire brigade attended and said it was caused by a faulty extractor fan.
Being a council tenant I immediately called the council who sent out someone to see. He was just an employee who worked for the out of hours and advised an inspector would call the next day. The inspector did not call so I had to chase this up and insist as I was concerned that 24hrs had elapsed and no electrician had called and I wanted them to assure me that the rest of our house was safe. After an argument a buildings inspector called. He walked into the garage and just stated " pppfftt this isn't our responsibility" I asked if an electrician would call and he said " no because the electric has tripped in the garage". After numerous calls to get an electrician I had to call my local MP to get some help. Within half an hr an electrician called out. He was the first to enter my home and make safe my consumer unit which supplies the rest of my home. He told me he had to be careful what he told me but one thing he noticed was that the fuse on the consumer unit was a 16 and not 32 as it should have been. He also said that when I had a house rewire 18months ago the new consumer unit they installed did not have any stickers to say when it had been installed. I would like to add that when the rewiring was done they did not rewire the garage. I know the extractor fan and wiring was not installed by the council but by a previous tenant but they were aware that the electrics were there hence why they put a fuse into the new consumer unit. The following day whilst I was at work my son informed me that someone from the council came out and once again looked in the garage and consumer unit, I have had no contact with them and unsure who this person was and have heard nothing since. I have requested that they do a full investigation and once again have heard nothing.
We have managed to salvage quite a bit but estimate the loss to be around £15,000. All the facials and roof are burnt and it's now exposed and open to the elements and I don't know if it's structurally safe.
I'm looking for advice on where I stand? . Who's responsible? Should I just shrug it off and just try to clean it up?
As I know nothing about electrics or the law I'm in real need of guidance and I'm in no position to pay for legal advice.
Many thanks in advance for any advice.
0
Comments
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What did your insurance company say? Let them fight it out, that's what you pay them for.0
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Is this garage part of some residential tenancy in which you live or is it a separate, council-garage-only, tenancy?
Suggest you write (yes, WRITE! - keep copy) to the council a calm & polite letter about the matter.
Who's name is the electric account in for the garage?
There are 2 sorts of people:
- those who usually want to blame someone else & get someone else to pay...
- those who get on with life, sort things out themselves...
- those who can't count...0 -
The Council will be responsible for the building under the buildings insurance. Not a quick process
You will be responsible for your belongings under your contents insurance.
Not sure what you expect to happen. They have isolated the electrics & checked the rest of your property I safe. For now that's all they need to do.
They will be guided by their insurance team as to how they proceed. This could take months.
The Council surveyor would have made an assessment as to whether it is structurally sound or not.
It sounds like you are still living in the house so this hasn't been affected?0 -
What point are you making with the comment about the 16A fuse? That does not sound like a safety issue, more of a pain in the bum when it blows at 3.8kW.0
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You managed to salvage most of the stuff in the garage but still have lost 15k worth of stuff?! What on Earth did you have in your garage...0
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marliepanda wrote: »You managed to salvage most of the stuff in the garage but still have lost 15k worth of stuff?! What on Earth did you have in your garage...
A cannabis farm :rotfl:
(Only joking)0 -
This is what insurance is for. Their buildings insurance and your contents insurance. The council are not going to pay you for what you say you lost in the garage that is up to you to claim on your contents insurance.0
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The garage is part of the property. My insurance company has a specialised team coming out tomorrow so I'll let them deal with it. Thank you0
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Also the electrician from the council stated that the wiring was installed incorrectly with the wrong mm wiring going in. The council signed this off as safe when it clearly wasn't under the regulations.
I am not trying to get money from anyone, I just want them to put things right and explain how this was allowed to happen.0 -
Great choice of name!MisalignedHalo0
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