Married Quarters (MQ) Residents 18 June 2008 at 8:51PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in UK Armed Forces MoneySaving 421 replies 86.3K views

archie159

Does anyone know if occupants have to insure their quarters - eg, if it burns down, do we pay, or Defence Estates? I've got a few army friends who rent out their own houses to civilians, and they all have their own buildings insurance for such problems (ie the tenants aren't liable). But the DE handbook says:

Insurance - You are strongly advised to arrange insurance for your
potential liability to us - Defence Estates or the Housing Provider,
your personal property and that of any Spouse/Civil Partner or child,
or for your liability to 3rd
parties in respect of injury to them and
damage to their property. You need to be aware that there is no
predetermined limit on your potential liability for the cost of repairing
damage to your SFA and you should arrange insurance cover for an
appropriate sum based on your personal circumstances. However,
be aware that if you are not adequately insured you may still be
pursued by the MOD for your liabilities for any damage caused to a
property.

That rather implies that if my quarter burns down then I will need to pay for it (but "an appropriate sum" is very vague). My kit insurance only has £20,000 for quarter/barrack block damage - that wouldn't pay to rebuild the house!! But none of my neighbours on the patch have taken out buildings insurance...

Thanks,
Archie

chasley

You only need to get contents insurance.

archie159

Thanks, that is what I had originally thought, but how do you account for the statement "You need to be aware that there is no
predetermined limit on your potential liability for the cost of repairing
damage to your SFA"?
Where is it written down, clearly, exactly what our liability is - because, taking the above statement at its face value, we would need buildings insurance.

molerat

You really need personal liability insurance. If your child decides to take a saw to the staircase or if the house burns down because you lit a bonfire in the lounge you will be liable for the cost of repair, that is the type of thing that you need to cover. If DE decide it is your fault that something happened they can chase you for the money. Google tenants liability insurance, most contents policies in fact cover this.

reddoggybag

Please be very careful with this one somewhere deep in my brain from when we lived in SFA I think that if the house burnt down and it is classed as your negligence ie a chip pan fire, candles, wiring on one of your electrical appliances etc you are liable for the rebuilding costs so please check and double check what the wording means!

chasley

Lived in SFA for over 20 yrs only ever needed contents insurance and accidental new for old covers it all!

bobbych_2

it is a misconception that 'you only need contents cover'

This is because this is what 99% of us do. I included have only ever had contents cover.

However, as stated above, you will be liable for costs if there is damage to the property which is caused by your negligence, such as a chip pan fire etc, or a fire caused by overloading sockets etc.

most, like me just manage the RISK, and hope it never happens, but please do not think you ONLY need contents cover, you do not

Chimaera

Hi All

I am preparing for my first march out in the next few weeks. Can I ask for any comments, hints and tips? Am quite prepared for it to be a nightmare so don't worry about holding back!!

Many thanks in advance.

archie159

Chimaera wrote: »

Hi All

I am preparing for my first march out in the next few weeks. Can I ask for any comments, hints and tips? Am quite prepared for it to be a nightmare so don't worry about holding back!!

Many thanks in advance.

Its not normally a nightmare if you (a) get a pre-march out visit (these are actually mandatory nowadays), and (b) do exactly what is on the checklist they will give you. If you are cleaning the house yourself, allow plenty of time - it really does need to be spotless. If you are using a cleaning company, either the official one or a private one, then it is much easier. The official cleaning scheme was about twice the price (last summer) of one of the local companies to where we used to live, so hunt around. The main advantage of the official scheme is that you can walk out of the door after the packers, with no worries; you'll have to judge whether that is worth the extra costs (how far would you have to travel to return for the march out if you get a private company in to clean after you have left?). We did clean our first few quarters ourselves, but it is a lot of hassle when you have children also. If you do get a company to do it, try to find one which is used to forces quarters - our last DE office gave us a list of companies which previous people had used without problem.

Hope that helps. As I said, as long as you do what is on the checklist they give you, then we've never had any problems. Oh, its is worth getting them to look at the garden on the pre-marchout, to agree in advance what needs doing - the checklist just says "neat and tidy", but their and your definition of neat and tidy might not be the same. We had one housing officer (or whatever they are called) who tried to insist that half the flowers were weeds and needed removing - she clearly couldn't tell a rose from a nettle. But she was the only difficult one we ever really had...

Chimaera

archie159 wrote: »

Its not normally a nightmare if you (a) get a pre-march out visit (these are actually mandatory nowadays), and (b) do exactly what is on the checklist they will give you. If you are cleaning the house yourself, allow plenty of time - it really does need to be spotless. If you are using a cleaning company, either the official one or a private one, then it is much easier. The official cleaning scheme was about twice the price (last summer) of one of the local companies to where we used to live, so hunt around. The main advantage of the official scheme is that you can walk out of the door after the packers, with no worries; you'll have to judge whether that is worth the extra costs (how far would you have to travel to return for the march out if you get a private company in to clean after you have left?). We did clean our first few quarters ourselves, but it is a lot of hassle when you have children also. If you do get a company to do it, try to find one which is used to forces quarters - our last DE office gave us a list of companies which previous people had used without problem.

Hope that helps. As I said, as long as you do what is on the checklist they give you, then we've never had any problems. Oh, its is worth getting them to look at the garden on the pre-marchout, to agree in advance what needs doing - the checklist just says "neat and tidy", but their and your definition of neat and tidy might not be the same. We had one housing officer (or whatever they are called) who tried to insist that half the flowers were weeds and needed removing - she clearly couldn't tell a rose from a nettle. But she was the only difficult one we ever really had...

Thanks so much for such a comprehensive reply I really appreciate it. It certainly gives me some things to think about/look into! Many thanks again. :T