had a house fire but no insurance -nextdoor damaged too - advice required

[spidey41]

we had a bad house fire 5 months ago which spread to next doors house ,

 

we were uninsured .

 

our house cost us £16,000 to put right which we took out in loans

 

yet next door who had less damage than us have been told by his insurance company it will cost £102,000 to put his house right ,

 

my problem being is that his insurance company have now sent me a letter asking for my insurance companys details

so they can liase with them over the repair costs ,

 

as i have no insurance i have as yet not replied but

 

a friend of mine thinks that as i have no insurance this company will probably take me to court to reimburse them ,

 

any advice would be helpful please

[rebel11]

Hi spidey41

 

Do you own the house outright or do you have a mortgage on it?

 

Also if you do have to pay their costs which you say should be less then theirs because their is less damage then yours, you must ask for an independent assessor to evaluate the damage and cost.

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that this is highly likely. Also I seem to remember that it is a legal requirement to have third party insurance for a residential properties.

I don't think that there is much good news for you about this. Sorry.

 

You had better get independent quotes for the damage next doors to reduce your liability

[spidey41]

we own the house outright with no mortgage , i read somewhere that to claim against me the insurance company would have to prove negligance on my part is this correct

[spidey41]

something to add to this , i am still on good speaking terms with my neighbour who has a breakdown from his insurance company of costs

his new roof is going to cost £22,000 yet ours was only £6,000 for exactly the same job , he states they told him he needs a new kitchen which he only had replaced last year at a cost of £3,000 yet insurance company have stated £8,000 , they are also fitting him an intruder alarm at the cost of £1,500 which he never even had before , they also damaged his garage roof with the scaffolding which they are replacing at a cost of £4,500 , i presume i can use some of this in my defence

[steampowered]

My understanding is that if you have a mortgage you will be required to have buildings insurance, but not if you own the home outright. I don't think you would be liable for any of this unless the insurer could prove that the fire was due to your negligence. In most situations this would be very difficult to prove.

 

I think you are best off coming forward and telling his insurance company that you do not have insurance. They will find out sooner or later, and being seen to be cooperative would help you if there turns out to be a problem.

[rebel11]

Hi spidey41

 

Has their insurance company sent you a breakdown of the costs in writing? Get them to send that to you before you do anything else. If the matter goes to court, you can demonstrate that what has been claimed is inflated with extras like the alarm system, garage door, etc added. It might be an idea to get an independent loss adjuster to evaluate the damage to their property and costs to fix the damage.

[spidey41]

the only letter from insurance company was for our insurance details to liase over costs , the actual fire started behind a light bulb in the bathroom and firemans report states accidental fire due to faulty bulb / wireing , the bulb was set in a false wood ceiling which had original ceiling above this and above that the loft was boarded , these lights were fitted in the house before we brought the house 7 years ago and have not had any problems with them until this happened

[unclebulgaria67]

My understanding is that if you have a mortgage you will be required to have buildings insurance, but not if you own the home outright. I don't think you would be liable for any of this unless the insurer could prove that the fire was due to your negligence. In most situations this would be very difficult to prove.

 

I think you are best off coming forward and telling his insurance company that you do not have insurance. They will find out sooner or later, and being seen to be cooperative would help you if there turns out to be a problem.

 

The correct position is as stated above. The reason the next doors neighbours are asking about insurance cover is that if you did have insurance, they would look to discuss the fire event, to see if they could obtain agreement to pay for the damage to both properties. There may agreements between some companies.

 

As you don't have insurance, it would be a case of the next doors neighbour insurers proving you negligent. If you have a fire report stating accidental fire, just send a copy of this to the insurers with a covering letter stating that unfortunately you did not have any insurance for this accident event. I doubt that the insurers will continue to pursue this with you any further. If they do, post back for further advice or see a local Solicitor.

[steampowered]

That's good. If you had left a chip pan on or something the insurance company could say you were negligent, but difficult to see how they could accuse you of anything over a fire like that. I think you are best off just telling the other insurance company that you don't have insurance.

 

The courts re-confirmed quite recently that there is no liability for fire on your land escaping to someone else's land unless you are negligent, see http://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/nlj/content/fire-escape

[spidey41]

thank you all for your help , any more problems i will post here

[petebarnes1616]

I own 2 houses semi detached, to each other, one is insured, and the other empty so not insured. Arsen was commited on the occupied and insured property, and the insurance co have accepted liambility and paid out to me . But the fire in my insured house peirced through to my other empty uninsured house, causing electrics to be burned out, and floor beams burned and windows smashed. So i said to my insurance company that surley they would pay out for the damage cased to my other house, as it was my insured house that has caused the damage. They said i can not claim at all for that house, as they only insure the other house, so i can not claim for that. But it makes no sence, as surley if your neighbour causes damage to your property via a fire in theres, there insurance would have to pay, so would it not be the same in my case. HELPPP

[rebel11]

Hi Pete

 

Welcome to CAG

 

You really need to start your own thread, the guys can then provide advice.

 

 

I own 2 houses semi detached, to each other, one is insured, and the other empty so not insured. Arsen was commited on the occupied and insured property, and the insurance co have accepted liambility and paid out to me . But the fire in my insured house peirced through to my other empty uninsured house, causing electrics to be burned out, and floor beams burned and windows smashed. So i said to my insurance company that surley they would pay out for the damage cased to my other house, as it was my insured house that has caused the damage. They said i can not claim at all for that house, as they only insure the other house, so i can not claim for that. But it makes no sence, as surley if your neighbour causes damage to your property via a fire in theres, there insurance would have to pay, so would it not be the same in my case. HELPPP