Fire at Ex's Private Rental House

sal_III

It was a new area of work he hasn't done before. Just over three weeks into this (a week ago) there was a fire at his house.

He is contacting the LL tomorrow.

Wait, what? Why not call/e-mail him the first instance he knew about the fire?

1) I doesn't matter whether your ex realised the terms of the LL insurance or if the LL had an insurance at all. He should check his tenancy agreement which more than likely have a clause stipulating he has to inform the LL if the property will be unoccupied for longer than (usually) 2-3 weeks. He clearly failed to do so, not only that he still hasn't informed the LL about the fire!!

2) Although the fire might not be your ex fault failing to notify the LL about the vacancy and subsequently about the fire itself is negligence and might make him liable for damages. You said the the smouldering has been ongoing for days, if he was at the property it could have been put out in time before the fire broke and limit the damage.

Trying to shift the blame to faulty electrics or fire alarm not working (completely irrelevant since he wasn't there to hear it in the first place) doesn't change facts that according to your investigation they are apparently legal. And the Fire brigade report doesn't point fingers at them.

3) It beggars believe that we are finding about this on the MSE forums before the LL. Even if the tenancy agreement have provisions making the LL liable to provide alternative accommodations at his cost in case of unihabitability of the property, I'm fairly sure that your ex negligence in this case will render the tenancy agreement void. So he better start looking for new home, likely kiss his deposit goodbye and pray it stops there.

SnooksNJ

He's your ex for a reason, stop enabling him. Unless you have a Law Degree you can't fix this.
Unlucky he lost his coffee maker but just be thankful nobody was killed.

G_M

Plenty of advice / information in posts above.

Just to add that if the property is now 'uninhabitable', and likely to remain so for a significant proportion of the remaining fixed term of the tenancy, then the contract can be deemed 'frustrated'.

That means that for reasons beyond the control of either party (ie a fire) the terms of the contract cannot be fulfilled (the landlord cannot provide the agreed habitable property).

The contract ends. The tenant no longer has to pay rent and the landlord no longer has to provide a property.

westernpromise

If the property is uninhabitable and if that's due to the tenant breaching the terms of the lease, I as the landlord would be coming after the tenant to make good my losses.

TBagpuss

He is your ex so none of this is your problem to solve.

That said:

-He should have told the landlord immediately about the fire, and if he hasn't, should do so now as a matter of urgency.

- The landlord is not responsible for the fact that he chose not to get contents insurance. unless he can show that his property was damaged as a direct result of negligence by the landlord, he has no chance of getting any contribution from the landlord for his damaged possessions.

- If the house was unoccupied for 30+ days it may invalidate the landlord's insurance. He should check his tenancy agreement to see whether he had any obligation to notify the landlord if he was going to be absent for that length of time.

- If there was nothing in the tenancy agreement about him leaving the property unoccupied then the landlord is unlikely to have any claim against him.

- if the landlord could prove that the fire was as a result of your ex's negligence ten they might be able to make a claim against him, however, it doesn't sound very likely.

- The contract between your ex may have been 'frustrated' meaning the tenancy ends and your ex gets his deposit back, or alternatively, the landlord may have an obligation to provide alternative accommodation and your ex would be obliged to continue to pay rent. He needs to check his tenancy and to take his own advice.

[Deleted User]

Lots of assumptions made.

Not lookiing to solve his problems, I was hoping to find some suggestions as fires of this kind aren't something a person normally experiences.

I was hoping for more balanced than 'its your ex's fault and I'd be going after him no holds barred' views, but such is life. He clearly feels terrible about this plus very aware that fires can happen, which is very understandable. I clearly stated the fire brigade said it wasn't my ex's fault. Personally as it looks like the fire alarm didn't go off (and I had my wired fire alarm test ok, but didn't actually go off when it should have done and needed replacing so I know personally this can happen), if he had been there, he could very easily have died. I for one am glad he wasn't there.

It does look like it wasn't an electrical fire, it was caused by the extreme heat and strong sunlight. As most people would have been out when strong sunlight occurred, there is no way he could have prevented the damage caused. It doesn't take long for smoke damage to incur expensive repairs.

Anyway, a loss adjuster has been round. No quibbles about the claim. Unfortunately the house requires specialist cleaning, almost ripped back to the shell and everything replaced. My ex has the option of having the tenancy brought to a mutually agreed end or living elsewhere while the works are being carried out and then moving back in. He won't be charged rent during this time.
The LL is keen for him to move back in so that's what he'll do. The insurance company are going to be handling the repair process. The place will be cleaned (one month) another assessment carried out as to the best way of doing the refurb/exactly what needs to be done, then the builders will go in. Should take 12 weeks. Apparently there have been other fires caused by the strong sunlight and heat, peat filled pot plants have been a cause, as have been crystals that some people have as ornaments. Well, that's what the loss adjustor said. My ex was dreading seeing the agent/LL but was surprised by the matter of fact way the situation has been dealt with. Restores your faith somewhat (I've had bad experiences myself lol). There's no getting away from the fact that this is going to incur huge expenses of course. But I guess, fires do occasionally happen. My ex will be responsible for disposing of and replacing his contents, which is what I expected.

Hopefully this will help anyone else who has something unpleasant like this happen.

HampshireH

Glad he had a positive response from a very reasonable landlord

Davesnave

To be objective as possible, it was you who led thinking down the electrical deep fat fryer/electric kettle route initially, implying that one or the other might have been left switched-on.


It now seems the fire brigade's report is saying something different.


Glad it's all working out as OK as it can. Loss adjusters are luck of the draw, I think. Mine was insensitive and lazy, but I had the last laugh as a result of his apparent inability to quantify things like electical sockets etc. With the house I had at the time, betterment was inevitable!

candycow

Don't count on it being 12 weeks. We had a house fire in January. We were told the build would take 8-10 weeks, but the work wasn't started until the day before the six month 'anniversary' of the fire due to delays and hold ups on the part of the Loss Adjuster. We still haven't had our list of contents that are going to be written off, and so cannot start buying new furniture yet, and we are nearly at the 7 month mark. It's looking increasing likely it will be around 10+ months post fire that we are able to move back in.

Smodlet

I thought insurance policies, as opposed to tenancy agreements,
usually stated absences of 30 days or more, rather than 21, must be reported. Either way, had your ex had contents insurance, deannatrois, it would probably have been invalidated by the fact of his long absence.

It is horrifying to learn that fires can be caused by strong sunlight unless some boy scout type is trying to start one deliberately with a magnifying glass but I can see how crystals could do the same job.

Thank goodness for your ex that he seems to have a great LL and to have lucked out with the loss adjuster, too. I think he would be well advised to learn all he can from this experience and take out contents insurance at the earliest opportunity. He may even get away with not telling the company about this incident since the question is usually phrased to ask about prior claims, not prior incidents.