Fire in neighbouring property - is vendor telling porkies?

kissprudence

AdrianC said:

kissprudence said:

Yes, the loft space is a converted dormer bedroom so we were up there on our viewing.

But that conversion's going to hide the actual timbers. Is there access to them, perhaps via unfinished eaves storage?

There's nothing your surveyor can see that you can't. He can't see through plasterboard, and he certainly can't remove it.

Ah sorry yes I see what you mean. I think my husband opened the door of one of the eaves when we viewed. But we didn't have a proper poke about/ crawl round because I didn't know about the fire at the point. Do you think we should book a second viewing to have a poke about or should I just leave it to the surveyor? (I wouldn't know what I'm looking at/for, to be honest)

Falafels

kissprudence said:

davidmcn said:

If all the other neighbour suffered was smoke damage, why are you convinced that there was likely to be more serious damage to "your" house? Even if there had been damage why would it not have been fixed at the time, given it would have been fully insured?

How can we assume the house was fully insured? How can we assume that any damage was fixed at the time?   

If a house is mortgaged, buildings insurance is a compulsory condition of the mortgage. You are way, way overthinking this!

It sounds as though your friend's really spooked you, though.

ProDave

I would be more worried by the prospect of water damage by the FB trying to tackle the fire next door.

davidmcn

kissprudence said:

davidmcn said:

If all the other neighbour suffered was smoke damage, why are you convinced that there was likely to be more serious damage to "your" house? Even if there had been damage why would it not have been fixed at the time, given it would have been fully insured?

How can we assume the house was fully insured? How can we assume that any damage was fixed at the time?   

Because it's extremely rare for somebody not to have buildings insurance (it's compulsory for anybody with a mortgage, and a really daft thing to not bother with otherwise) - what's the likelihood of "your" house, and the one where the fire started (who I am guessing may have ultimately been liable), both being uninsured at the time?

Are you able to describe to us exactly what sort of thing you're actually worried about? I am having trouble thinking of the sort of material unrepaired damage which hasn't caused any problems in the decade since the incident, but somehow would cause you a problem in the future.

Falafels

ProDave said:

I would be more worried by the prospect of water damage by the FB trying to tackle the fire next door.

It would probably have dried out by now!

kissprudence

I'll go with the general feeling that a) the house probably doesn't have any significant damage b) it was fully insured at the time because it would be silly for it not to be c) the vendors would have put right any damage. I'm generally persuaded by these comments and they make sense. It's a difficult thing to talk about but in the city where I live, large parts of it are a cash economy and insurance is considered haram by some people. I don't know if the vendor has a mortgage on the property: it's chain free and they have already bought again, the house is empty. 

brianposter

You could simply check which way the wind was blowing on the relevant day. I seem to remember that wunderground.com provides relevant data.

GDB2222

brianposter said:

You could simply check which way the wind was blowing on the relevant day. I seem to remember that wunderground.com provides relevant data.

You’d need the date and approximate time.

I don’t know why the OP doesn’t more or less accept the explanation given but get a survey nonetheless?

kissprudence

GDB2222 said:

brianposter said:

You could simply check which way the wind was blowing on the relevant day. I seem to remember that wunderground.com provides relevant data.

You’d need the date and approximate time.

I don’t know why the OP doesn’t more or less accept the explanation given but get a survey nonetheless?

That's what I plan on doing. I'm just a worrier, is all. Have an offer accepted on our dream house and then find out a couple of weeks later that there was a bad fire in the neighbouring property - makes me feel twitchy. Not something I can just say "meh" to and get on with my day to be honest. Maybe I need to be more resilient !

greatcrested

10 years ago? And you have no evidence of any damage?

And even if there was damage, it will have been repaired. The current owners have been living there (I assume) happily for 10 years since. You really have no reason to be soparanoid.

Yes, instruct a surveyor, and ask the surveyor specifically to comment on any possible long-term fire damage, but unless and until the survey report says something negative, just put this out of yourmind.