fire brigade damage to door to get access to semi detached property which was not damaged by fire.

chrisw

CliveOfIndia said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:
You may have a claim against the tenants and / or owners of the property where the fire started. They can pass that on to their insurers (assuming they are insured).

Given fire was caused by arson, how do you think the property owner (council in this case) is responsible?

Would the council need to be held responsible in order for their insurance to pay up?  Genuine question, by the way, I'm not arguing with you !

Isn't this similar to the old chestnut of a roof tile falling off your roof and damaging your neighbour's car?  No-one is at fault as such, it's just a genuine accident, and your insurance would normally cover the damage to your neighbour's car.

In this scenario it's not the fault of either the council or the tenant, but I would have thought their insurance would still cover them - though I may be completely wrong !

Your insurance wouldn't normally cover the damage to the neighbour's car, they would usually have to claim off their own car insurance.

I would think the OP either has to claim off their own insurance or sue the arsonist.

TELLIT01

brinalack said:

property is a semi-detached house that I own. There was a serious fire in the adjoining property which is owned by the council and tenanted. The brigade managed to put out the fire and my property was not affected. I was absent on holiday at the time and the nearest key holder to my property was 90 minutes drive away. The brigade insisted on getting access to my property to ensure that the fire had not got access via the loft space. They were not prepared to wait for the keyholder to get there so they smashed in my back door to get access. there was no other damage to my property. The cost of a new door replacement is in the region of £500. The fire was apparently arson following a domestic dispute. Whilst I believe that I can claim under my Home policy as "emergency damage", I will still have to fork out the £300 excess and the likely increase in my insurance premium for years to come. In view of the circumstances of the fire do I have a case against the Council for the action of their tenant?  I dont think there is any chance of getting anything from the fire brigade or the tenants themselves. 
 

How would the OP have felt if the fire had got into the roof of their property with the potential loss of the house, and the fire brigade said they had waited 90 minutes for a keyholder to arrive?

CliveOfIndia

chrisw said:

CliveOfIndia said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:
You may have a claim against the tenants and / or owners of the property where the fire started. They can pass that on to their insurers (assuming they are insured).

Given fire was caused by arson, how do you think the property owner (council in this case) is responsible?

Would the council need to be held responsible in order for their insurance to pay up?  Genuine question, by the way, I'm not arguing with you !

Isn't this similar to the old chestnut of a roof tile falling off your roof and damaging your neighbour's car?  No-one is at fault as such, it's just a genuine accident, and your insurance would normally cover the damage to your neighbour's car.

In this scenario it's not the fault of either the council or the tenant, but I would have thought their insurance would still cover them - though I may be completely wrong !

Your insurance wouldn't normally cover the damage to the neighbour's car, they would usually have to claim off their own car insurance.

Thanks for the info - like I said, I wasn't entirely sure, it's always good to learn about these things :-(:smile:

theoretica

Do you have the same £300 excess for the fire damage portion of your cover? 

There is also the issue of whether any repairs may be significant to involve your property.

twopenny

I'm going with the old chestnut ' do you have legal cover with your insurance'
Given that the fire brigade had to gain immediate access and the property owner and occupier were not at fault it is difficult to pinpoint where to claim. 
You need legal advice.
That may cost as much as the door.

subjecttocontract

......and of course it may turn out to be the case that nobody is liable and there is nobody to claim the cost of repairs from.

Bigphil1474

We had a gas leak a few years ago (maybe 2016) and about 4 houses had to be evacuated, including ours. Our immediate neighbour was out and as his wife was disabled and possibly still in the house, the gas board broke into his house to make sure it was empty. It was. The gas board had his door temporarily repaired, and a few weeks later they got him a brand new door fitted. He was chuffed as his old door was in a poor state. I would have thought the fire brigade (and police) would have similar arrangements in place. The gas leak was found to be a disused pipe that was made safe and later dug out.

DullGreyGuy

CliveOfIndia said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:
You may have a claim against the tenants and / or owners of the property where the fire started. They can pass that on to their insurers (assuming they are insured).

Given fire was caused by arson, how do you think the property owner (council in this case) is responsible?

Would the council need to be held responsible in order for their insurance to pay up?  Genuine question, by the way, I'm not arguing with you !

Isn't this similar to the old chestnut of a roof tile falling off your roof and damaging your neighbour's car?  No-one is at fault as such, it's just a genuine accident, and your insurance would normally cover the damage to your neighbour's car.

In this scenario it's not the fault of either the council or the tenant, but I would have thought their insurance would still cover them - though I may be completely wrong !

Yes

If you re-read the opening post though the OP states the fire was arson following a domestic dispute and so that puts the council in the clear but more details would be needed to know if the arsonist is one of the tenants and if they are potentially the third party damage may be covered by their insurance (if there is any). 

This is materially different to the old roof tile incident which is an "act of god" unless the roof was in a clear state of poor repair and the owner had been ignoring it rather than repairing it. This is an act of a person/arsonist not of "god"

twopenny

It's worth asking the fire brigade if they know who is responsible. They must have previous experience of this.
I had an incidence where they turned their damaged fire hydrant that wouldn't turn off directly onto my fence and flooded my garden badly. While this isn't so serious they were extremely helpful - to my surprise.

But I do wonder if the leaving a spare key such a distance away may have any bearing on who's responsible. 
A key for emergency needs to be quickly accessible. The most likely emergency when you are away from home is fire. Others can wait longer.

ic

Claim on your insurance for the door, and then also claim on your legal cover to reclaim your costs from whoever was responsible for the fire.