Can any Landlords help with the aftermath of Fire

Paul Barrett,I think your talking about flats inpurpose built blocks that have their insurance in with their service charge. Our pay out was on a house and they did cover the rent, the tenant quit the tenanacy immediately because she was the one who set fire to the place.
Have you tried getting loss of rent on a contents policy ???

I have flats leased both to Torfaen and Newport councils and have made one fire damage claim on each council's block policy. For both claims I was reimbursed for loss of rent, I simply had to include a copy of the lease. One policy was with Zurich, can't remember the other.
To make any progress with the initial claim get the loss adjuster out as soon as possible. I do remember badgering the main insurance office until they gave me the mobile number of the elusive loss adjuster allocated to my claim. I rang his mobile and gave him a surpirse when I introduced myself. After a sympathetic chat with him directly about his workload and my damage I got the first appointment made there and then!

What I believeis key to this is the terms of your landlord insurance. Have a good read of what is and isn't covered. A proper landlords' policy (I have an NLA block one from Alan Boswell) should cover the cost of providing your tenant with alternative accommodation. I think you are required to do so under the terms of a tenancy if the property becomes uninhabitable.

i accept paul barnetts challenge.
my rentguard buildings policy covers:
'loss of rent receivable or payable...whilst the insured property shown on the certificate is rendered uninhabitable or whilst access to the insured property is denied as a result of damage insured by this section'.
the next section also goes on to state they will cover service charge payments.
whats my prize?
it is always vital to read the policy as this is the contract. insurance is a very dodgy industry.

@Paul Barrett
Paul, ordinary buildings insurance does not cover loss of rent. However, loss of rent policies do (the clue is in the name!). You seem very forthright for someone who appears not to know the ins and outs of the property world. Your comments are not helpful. I have practised in the property area for 28 years. Let me enlighten you.

It is not illegal to have two insurance policies in place. What you may be thinking about is double insurance where the SAME RISKS are covered by two policies and insurers either apply "average" or try to avoid paying out on the basis that the other insurer will pay. It is perfectly possible, legal and common to have one policy to cover the buildings, another to cover contents and a third to cover loss of rent. The first two are often combined on household policies. The third is more specialist but is definitely available, either as a standalone policy or as part of a buildings insurance policy.

Landlords should check that the policy covers the case where there is no tenant (either because damage occurs during a void or because the tenancy ends before reinstatment is complete) but this is not usually a problem.

@IAN
my ordinary buildings insurance policy covers loss of rent - see above.

Hi - I certainly received rent loss and was asked for my AST to show what was the rent. I quote from my insurance policy under areas covered "Loss of rent receivable or payable including up to two years ground rent or reasonable additional expenses of comparable alternative accommodation if the risk address shown in the schedule is uninhabitable etc"
In my final statement is calculated the rent loss from the date of the fire until the date the property was inhabitable again.

Hi Helen sympathies for whats happened.... Perhaps this might help

You can have different insurance policies (as above) but you cannot insure the same thing twice, so a specialist LL insurance is preferable. You cannot insure what you don't own or have a financial interest in... Insurers talk to each other and if your under insured you will be left wanting, they may ask for wear and tear contributions too.

Uninsured losses (I love these!) carpets? Telephone calls, loss of rent, hassle, petrol, your tenants uninsured losses too? Well if the fire was the neighbours fault look at a claim from their insurer direct.... Look to claim interim compensation too.

I can't give you an example other than this.... I recently claimed off a motor insurer for damage to a four foot thick hedge which was 400 foot long and of which 20 foot had been mowed down by their insured driver ! They offered me the cost of little replacement shrubs... £240, I claimed £900 for phone calls, inconvenience, postage, paper, ten years of pruning the little shrubs in place... And 'loss of enjoyment' (well it looked awful) I got £750. They key thing was to keep on at them ... This does not help you but it's a good example of don't ask don't get. If you have had to borrow money to pay your mortgage and you pay interest on that, or indeed you lost interest on the savings account you would have put your rent in, well that's an uninsured loss.... If there is an insurer who is accepting final liability for their Insureds fire damaging your property (next door to your BTL) then claim for it!

@ Lise Willcox says:
'Well if the fire was the neighbours fault look at a claim from their insurer direct…. Look to claim interim compensation too.'

unlikely you can do this without your insurers consent as this would prejudice insurers rights of subrogation, as a claim can only be brought once. it is a condition precedent of insurance policies that the insured gives consent for any actions for recovery from the third party to be taken by insurers in the name of the insured so they can recover their costs. insurers do however have to include your uninsured losses such as the xs in any such recovery action.

I agree partly, but if you are in contact with your Insuer, you would agree your direct steps with the third Party insurers with them, if liability is not an issue with the Third Party Insurers on an uninsured loss and your Insurer is agreed, and you may suffer further financial loss by not receiving an interim part compensation payment, eg having to take out a loan to cover loss of rent to pay a mortgage, then you could but ask, and you would be obliged to... Because in law you must mitigate your loss, the third party insurer may point out that the uninsured loss would not have been incurred if they had been approached... Personally I'd ring up the insurance ombudsman and have a natter to their staff. I could well be wrong, but the 'mitigation' bit could swing it, that's why I always ask .. But like Joe said I could be wrong xxx