House Fire - Repair Costs

bigisi

Chavvy is as chavvy does.

LilElvis

As you consider the council to be an appalling landlord then perhaps you should consider surrendering your tenancy and rent privately instead. Just settle your bills with them first.

davidmcn

Elinore wrote: »

Council - £200 dog kennels, £59 drawers and £50 dog food.

Minus the £20 offered by the council for the drawers (surely enough to get a second-hand set), minus the costs which the OP would have incurred if they had had to look after the dogs themselves during the period they were at the kennels.

EachPenny

JadonM wrote: »

We didn’t know the exact cost of what it would’ve been, but, due to the way they handled the entire situation plus some other events it led to me being detained and sectioned under the mental health act. The main reason was due to how they handled it all, bringing it all back up exactly one year on after the fire had happened with the charges.

I'm sorry to hear this. Did you mention this to your legal adviser?

To me it makes it all the more baffling why they have advised you to make a fuss about the drawers and dog food. You've already experienced enough, reaching a settlement with the council and getting on with your life should be the priority, not getting into a fight over less than £100 vs a £6000 write off.

JadonM wrote: »

The dogs were in the garden as the back door was open, they were playing in the garden. My partner had just left for work so I locked the front door, as I always do when she leaves just as a safety thing. My step son then ran into the garden after throwing a toy as he was upset she had left.
....
It’s hard if you’re not in the situation to fully understand why we handed the dogs over. We were scared, stressed and upset. When there’s a dog warden in front of you telling you to do X Y and Z we felt we had no choice but to do as she told us, despite us saying we were looking for places for the dogs. If I recall we’d almost found a family member to take them for a few days whilst it all got sorted but as the dog warden was told to collect the dogs, none of that mattered.

The dogs were in the back garden, the fire was at the back of the house. To get the fire put out and make sure it was out the fire service needed to be in the back garden, followed by people from the council to make sure the building was safe and secure. None of that is compatible with having dogs in the same space.

Scared, stressed and upset owners make for scared, stressed and upset dogs. The latter are dangerous and unpredictable (see previous paragraph) and it is not good for any animal to be in that situation. Bear in mind the first thing you did with your step-son was to get them away from the situtation - why would you think the dogs didn't need the same treatment?

As far as the dog warden is concerned the only thing that matters is the safety of people and the welfare of the dogs. Scared, stressed and upset owners won't necessarily be thinking rationally, it is at times like that the officials are trained to take over and deal quite firmly with the situation - precisely because they are not in the same situation as you. If the neighbour who had your step-son had taken the dogs as well then there probably wouldn't have been any question of them going to kennels. But for whatever reason you adn/or the neighbour didn't think that was appropriate, so the dog warden needed to act quickly.

Most scared, stressed and upset people dealing with the trauma of seeing their home on fire and thinking about where they are going to live would be grateful that someone takes the burden of finding a safe place for the dogs away from them. Having one less thing to worry about is usually welcomed by people in the situation you were in, which is why I'm sure you were grateful to the neighbour for taking care of your step son. Why are you not grateful that the dog warden did the same thing for your dogs?

parkrunner

JadonM wrote: »

They’ve written it off, yes, but that’s because a lot of the work that took place didn’t need doing in the first place. They cocked up a lot with the communication side of things too, left us waiting ages to find out what we’d have to pay despite having the invoices in September last year - we only got told the cost exactly one year on from the fire.. they insist it’s a coincidence...

It’s been a pretty big mess on their side to be honest, which is what a lot of people we’ve spoken to have agreed with and believe they’ve cut it so much to make them look better to gloss over the problems.

Yes it was our fault, yes we know we have to pay, yes we appreciate it could’ve been worse. However, I don’t see why we should pay for things that we never agreed to.

You are being asked for £2,000 a very small amount after a fire.

Throwaway1

The way I'd be tempted to see it is this:


The council moved your stuff for you for free. They damaged some drawers worth £59 and are going to give you £20 back. I'd just chalk it up as you paid £39 moving costs which is an absolute bargain.


The tins of dog food are gone. Unless you were going to do the bleach and chlorine thing mentioned on the previous page (which would incur money for materials and a lot of effort) then you were going to need to chuck them anyway or risk poisoning your dogs.



The kennel cost is annoying because you didn't want your dogs in kennels. However, they were looked after and are safe and are now back with you. If it helps, I would just add the £220 kennel cost in my head to the refurbishment costs you were asked to pay and see it as you paid £2220 for the damage you caused which is still a significant saving from £8000.



Whether you believe the council did unnecessary work or not (and it is their house so they get to decide what they think is necessary, not you), it undoubtedly cost them more than £2220 for the repairs and to rehouse you. We are now on 3 pages of this thread and not a single post has been in support of you trying to reclaim the costs for the kennels, dog food or drawers (people have offered advice if that is what you really want but aren't really thinking it is a good idea). I would probably take that as a sign that you are being a little unreasonable in your expectations and put this traumatic event behind you.

JadonM

Thanks for all the replies. It may not have come across as well on here, and may have seemed like we’re trying to take the mick - but I can assure you all that isn’t the case.

It’s been good to post on here though, and I’ll be taking the advice rather than that of the solicitors and just paying it rather than keep going back and forth with the council over this. It’s not worth the time for either us or them.

And like someone said, just viewing it as part of the repair costs is a good way of looking at it. It’s an awful thing to have happen and obviously we’ve learnt from it - candles have been banned ever since.

I wasn’t trying to imply it was the councils fault, my partner knows she should never have left the candle there but we are all human and do silly things, it’s just about learning from it.

Thanks again, I’ve contacted them now and will be paying what I can each month until it’s gone!

We are extremely grateful it’s not the full amount as well, I should add.