House Fire - Repair Costs

HampshireH

Councils don't have building insurance, they self insure. It would cost far too much to insure all properties.

Every provider of social housing I have worked for have had buildings insurance.

AnotherJoe

HampshireH wrote: »

Rather surprising a council dont have buildings insurance.

I'd say its expected, overall its cheaper to cover it themselves. Many large companies will do this also.

HampshireH

By!AnotherJoe20th Oct 18, 4:03 PM
ANOTHERJOE


Rather surprising a council dont have buildings insurance.

Originally posted!by!HampshireH”


I'd say its expected, overall its cheaper to cover it themselves. Many large companies will do this also.

That makes sense. Just wasnt something I'd come across.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-berkshire-41240783

Have the council reduced your bill from the original £5k?

davidmcn

HampshireH wrote: »

The OP states the council dont have buildings insurance which I found hard to believe.

Even if they did, and made a claim, it would just mean the insurer rather than the council would have the right to pursue the OP for the costs. More likely that they do have insurance but the excess is the £2000.

bouicca21

When I worked in the public sector it was a matter of policy not to insure - the value of the assets makes it pointless.

JadonM

They don’t have any insurance, which we found surprising but as someone else said they ‘self insure’.

We moved back in October, as they didn’t begin the repairs for some time.

Regarding the removal of goods, they offered to do this for us so we accepted as that was free. However, once he broke it the housing officer (who was present) said we’d have to send proof of cost and we’d be reimbursed. She’s now gone silent about it.

Yes accidents happen, but we have to pay for the accident. And as such, they should pay for the goods they broke during removal? We then did it with my car across several trips.

The £5K was the first guesstimate they provided us. It changed to £2000 plus dog kennel fees. However, our solicitors have said it seems they’ve done this to try and make themselves look good after a series of !!!! ups throughout the entire process on their part.

The solicitors did advise to argue regarding the food, the kennels and drawers but due to limited time we didn’t get into the nitty gritty about laws etc - it was free legal advice, we cannot afford to pay for a solicitor unfortunately.

AnotherJoe

JadonM wrote: »

We got our dogs back after the Easter bank holiday weekend, they said they came round to drop them off despite no contact being made prior to this and the council knew we were moving goods from house to flat still, so they were kept over the bank holiday weekend.

However, we never agreed to and wouldn’t have chosen kennels for the dogs as they were both rescues but one really struggles with kennels so we’d never have chosen to put them in them, but as explained before given the stress and having an angry dog warden in front of us...

The drawers were looking for a full reduction for, yes. And to recoup the cost of the food. Plus not pay for the kennels which we don’t believe they have any legal grounds to ask us to pay.

You didn't mention cost of the kennels before.
What did your legal advice say about that?


I'm not surprised the dog warden was angry considering you left dogs locked in a flat with a naked flame.
re the food, if you google it most advice sites state you should discard food even in apparently unmarked tins. The only one that didnt advised this;
Disinfect any cans that were not heat damaged and that are free from dents or rust. First scrub the can with detergent and then submerge it into a mixture of chlorine bleach and water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends one cup of bleach to five gallons of water. Test the sanitizing solution strength with chlorine test strips to make sure it stays viable. When finished, make sure to label the can with an indelible marker.
So, i think you are on a loser there.

parkrunner

You have caused £8,000 worth of damage and you are being asked for just £2,000 to cover it and yet you want them to pay for a chest of drawers and some tins of dog food, is that the gist of it?

JadonM

It wasn’t a case of leaving the dogs in a house with a naked flame, they were in the garden at the time anyway. This was an unfortunate accident, which we’ve obviously learnt from but I don’t think the dog warden should’ve come to us in such a way that as good as forced us into giving the dogs over, when we never actually agreed.

However, the dog kennels were around £220 according to the invoice we’ve got a copy of.

EachPenny

HampshireH wrote: »

The OP states the council dont have buildings insurance which I found hard to believe.

comeandgo wrote: »

Councils don't have building insurance, they self insure. It would cost far too much to insure all properties.

I agree with comeandgo. It isn't universal, but many (most?) Local Authorities adopt a self insurance approach to many risks.

The common exceptions are situations where insurance is compulsory (e.g. vehicles) or where there is the potential for significant liability to third parties .

But something like a council owned house (or other building) is likely to be self insured as the cost of rebuilding one house is small change in comparison to a local authority budget.