Neighbor's garage on fire, damage to mine.

[MIKEPIN]

FL.

I have an investment property. My neighbor's garage was on fire and burned down. We both have tenants in our property. My garage has damage from that.

The fire department established that the fire started at his site.

He had his insurance inspector over, but he was not interested in ours.

We both have the same insurance company. My damage is about $5000. My deductible is about $5000.

Do I have to pay for this now?

 

[quincy]

FL.

I have an investment property. My neighbor's garage was on fire and burned down. We both have tenants in our property. My garage has damage from that.

The fire department established that the fire started at his site.

He had his insurance inspector over, but he was not interested in ours.

We both have the same insurance company. My damage is about $5000. My deductible is about $5000.

Do I have to pay for this now?

Submit a claim to his/your insurer. You should not have to pay a deductible or for repairs if the damage was caused by your neighbor.

 

[adjusterjack]

The fire department established that the fire started at his site.

What caused the fire?

We both have the same insurance company.

Doesn't matter.

My damage is about $5000. My deductible is about $5000.

Do I have to pay for this now?

If your repair cost doesn't exceed your deductible then, yes, you do have to pay to repair your own house.

However, if the damage was caused by your neighbor's negligence, you can look to him, or his liability insurance, to cover your repairs.

We both have tenants in our property.

Well, if the fire was caused by his tenants' negligence, then you go after the tenants for the repair costs.

Notice my emphasis on the word "negligence." Without it you are on your own for your repair costs.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Jack is exactly right that the focus here is on negligence. Understand that negligence means that the fire was due to some failure on the part of someone to take reasonable steps to prevent the fire. So the cause of the fire and who, if anyone, was responsible for it is what you need to figure out to determine who pays for this damage.

 

[zddoodah]

Do I have to pay for this now?

This seems like an odd question given what led up to it. With that said...

If you have $5k in damage to your property and want it repaired, and if the damage does not exceed your insurance deductible, then of course you'll have to pay for the repairs.

I was expecting you to ask if someone else might be liable for the damage to your property. If, in fact, that's what you really want to know, the answer to that question cannot be ascertained based on facts provided. The only relevant fact you provided is that the fire started in your neighbor's garage, but that fact, by itself, doesn't help. If you want to hold someone else liable, you have to prove either that someone else intentionally caused the damage or that the damage resulted from someone else's negligence.

 

[MIKEPIN]

Thanks for all your answers. Very helpful. I will wait for the report from the fire department.

I assume it will be very hard and costly to prove negligence, so it looks like I will have to pay for it myself.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I assume it will be very hard and costly to prove negligence, so it looks like I will have to pay for it myself.

That depends on what the available evidence is. Sometimes it is not at all hard to prove negligence. You just need to see what the results of the fire department investigation is.

 

[adjusterjack]

I will wait for the report from the fire department.

We'll be here.

 

[MIKEPIN]

Just wanted to give you an update:

It took a long time, but we now have the fire report. It talks about a possible electrical fire starting in the neighbor's garage. Nothing in there that could prove negligence. Both parties have the same insurance, Citizens. They were out at the neighbor's garage a long time ago, neighbors already have a check. I waited to file a claim, as I wanted to see where we stand before. My agent knew about the claim but told me it is okay to wait. When I spoke to the adjuster, he told me that he does not need to come out, as he already inspected my garage when he was there for the neighbor. They estimated the repair with $13,000 and send me a check for $10,500. My deductible is $2,500.

Nice surprise: Next day the corporate office sent a check of $2,500 to reimburse my deductable. The adjuster had found cigarette buds in the area where the fire started. He said the fire department always writes "possible electrical" when they did not do a thorough inspection.

Now I just need to find a contractor who can repair the trusses and redo the roof for that amount.

 

[quincy]

Just wanted to give you an update:

It took a long time, but we now have the fire report. It talks about a possible electrical fire starting in the neighbor's garage. Nothing in there that could prove negligence. Both parties have the same insurance, Citizens. They were out at the neighbor's garage a long time ago, neighbors already have a check. I waited to file a claim, as I wanted to see where we stand before. My agent knew about the claim but told me it is okay to wait. When I spoke to the adjuster, he told me that he does not need to come out, as he already inspected my garage when he was there for the neighbor. They estimated the repair with $13,000 and send me a check for $10,500. My deductible is $2,500.

Nice surprise: Next day the corporate office sent a check of $2,500 to reimburse my deductable. The adjuster had found cigarette buds in the area where the fire started. He said the fire department always writes "possible electrical" when they did not do a sorrow inspection.

Now I just need to find a contractor who can repair the trusses and redo the roof for that amount.

Nice result. Thanks for the update, MIKEPIN.

 

[FlyingRon]

Given a chance, the cigarette buds would flower.

 

[quincy]

Given a chance, the cigarette buds would flower.

Thanks for looking out for the cigarette buds.

 

[Zigner]

Now I just need to find a contractor who can repair the trusses and redo the roof for that amount.

If you can't, then you got back to the insurance company for more money...

 

[quincy]

If you DO have to go back for more money, you should be armed with estimates for repairs from 3 different contractors.

 

[adjusterjack]

Or, just hand the insurance estimate to the contractor and say "Can you do the work for this amount?"

If not, then have the contractor justify any additional amounts to the adjuster. They talk the same language.