I have no experience of a serious fire so thought it might be worth asking on here.

My ex rented a one bed house four months ago. At the time of renting he told the LL he was hardly there as he works as a dog handler/security guard which normally means he is only in the house one day in seven (I was with him and heard this). However, recently he was away for roughly 30 days. It was a new area of work he hasn't done before. Just over three weeks into this (a week ago) there was a fire at his house. The fire brigade were called by neighbours but couldn't locate where the fire was (they had smoke coming through to their house). His house is on the end of a block, surrounded by fencing. No windows can be seen.

Its a bit of an unusual smouldering fire. Not a lot of flame, but there was heat and smouldering, it probably smouldered for a day or two and then went out on its own, which is unbelievable but apparently can happen. Absolutely everything in the house is black. It seems to have started in the kitchen, possibly via an appliance but started three weeks after he was in the house. The fire brigade have inspected the house, said that they find he is not at fault as even if it was say the deep fat fryer, it had an automatic cut off which didn't work. There is a kitchen window, which is broken, and a deep fat fryer/kettle next to it. The fire seems to have started somewhere near there. But three weeks after he left the house.

He is contacting the LL tomorrow. The fabric of the house is sound except for the kitchen ceiling (apparently it was ceiling laminate which is legal) which has melted, the doors of the cupboards were damaged and some appliances including my ex's fridge freezer because the laminate melted onto it and a coffee maker (expensive) he had in there. All othere items are just unusable because of the smoke.

Fire brigade warned of carcinogenic chemicals present in the black stuff so I stopped scrubbing the walls lol. They said the place is uninhabitable, the black stuff is everywhere, covering upstairs, the bed, the bathroom completely and obviously everything downstairs.

No my ex does not have contents insurance. He does have an incident number from the fire brigade and they said his LL could get a report off them. Apparently the property has an ancient wired fuse box but they are legal. We don't know how anyone didn't hear a fire alarm (fire alarms melted) so wonder if they went off.

1) My ex doesn't seem to get that the fact he was away for 30 days on this occasion could stop the LL being successful with his insurance claim. He also doesn't seem to understand that the LL probably has buildings insurance and that won't cover his contents. He says because it wasn't his fault, the LL should make some contribution. I doubt this is true but wonder if anyone has experience of this?

2) I am worried if in some way the LL/his insurance can try to claim the repair/refurb/redecorating costs from my ex in spite of Fire Services saying its not his fault.

To be honest, with our doubts as to whether the fire alarms were working, the general problems with the electrical installation, I am just glad he wasn't there.

3) God knows how the LL will take the news. I am half expecting the LL to say he has to find somewhere to live but not sure how to advise my ex to handle this. He still has eight months of his fixed term to serve.

EVERYONE who reads this, get contents insurance.