Severe Fire Damage to neighbouring property

moedeeb

My elderly neighbours have had a serious fire in their Garage/Yard which was bad enough to damage the whole side of their semi detached property. Burnt barge boards, melted upvc windows and door plus  burnt electrical wire, Additionally the double garage with an asbestos roof is totally burnt out.  They claim to have insurance and have asked me to help “sort” the claim.  They are elderly and both have dementia to varying degrees.  

The fire was caused by one of them discarding a cigarette on to piles of cardboard which was stored ( or dumped) on the outside of the garage. They are hoarders and have  (had) thousands of fishing rods filling the garage and yard, many in cardboard packaging.

There was absolutely no effort to mitigate a fire which I have been concerned about for months and now the whole thing has gone up in an inferno which  needed 3 fire engines and over 10 firefighters to put out.

I am concerned that their claim will be denied as they caused the fire and that they had not taken any reasonable precaution. In fact their behaviour has definitely led to this event.

Thoughts on whether they stand a chance of having a successful claim. 

PS The fire brigade are planning some sort of report/investigation.

BarelySentientAI

They stand a chance.

Insurers are aware that accidents happen.  If the insurer wants something specific to be done (or not done), then they write it in the policy conditions.

The F&RS produce a report for every fire.  That doesn't mean a lot.  Even if they do a 'real' investigation, that doesn't imply anything either.

tacpot12

The insurance company will probably also know that hoarder's can't help their behaviour. It's like an addiction. 

DullGreyGuy

Many claims are made because people do stupid things like trying to stand on a table to hang a TV which collapses damaging table, tv and wall. Similar with pots of paint spilt, nails through pipes/wires, driving into their own garage wall. 

It is deliberate acts that aren't covered. Here becomes messy when you start talking about children or those with possible mental illness. 

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4064167.pdf is an interesting case with some similarities given it was started by a dropped cigarette in a messy home. It was taken to the ombudsman as the insurers tests showed a cigarette wouldn't ignite the chair and only direct application of a flame would so ruled it must have been a deliberate act esp when combined with some evidence of financial distress. In the end the ombudsman upheld the complaint with the insured proving they weren't in distress and there were several pausable ways the fire could have started through carelessness rather than deliberate action. 

What may be more of a worry than the vector of the cause of the fire is if they have correctly declared values etc on their home insurance. 

moedeeb

More updates on this and not positive. It now appears that there is no valid insurance on the property and the fire damage has not been cleared up after 3 weeks.  The council (environmental health) have issued a notice and I understand if the clearance is not made then the council will send in a team and then charge the home owner for the work.  Because asbestos is involved estimates are starting at nearly 20k.  Will the council seek civil methods to reclaim the clean up costs as the home owner is unlikely to pay ( combination of lack of funds and mental capacity) 

Mods feel free to move to a more suitable forum.

user1977

moedeeb said:

Will the council seek civil methods to reclaim the clean up costs as the home owner is unlikely to pay

Yes, though they would be likely to use the option of registering a charge over the property and picking up the cost whenever the house is sold.

DullGreyGuy

moedeeb said:
It now appears that there is no valid insurance on the property and the fire damage has not been cleared up after 3 weeks.  The council (environmental health) have issued a notice and I understand if the clearance is not made then the council will send in a team and then charge the home owner for the work.  Because asbestos is involved estimates are starting at nearly 20k.  Will the council seek civil methods to reclaim the clean up costs as the home owner is unlikely to pay ( combination of lack of funds and mental capacity) 

As in they simply didnt have insurance? Or the insurers are looking to avoid the claim for a false declaration or similar?

Depending on how much the final bill is and what means the person has they will attempt recovery and a charging order on the property may be their solution assuming they own it. In practice some people dont have the means and many are written off or reclaimed at £50 a month etc