Can I make a claim?

Question

I was living in a rental unit, that caught fire July 12 of this year. I was wondering if I was able to make a claim on my landlords, property damage and/or is liabliaty homeowners insurance? The fire was caused by the a.c outlet that over heated, the a.c unit was installed in a wall that was vented into a enclosed garage. We lost almost everything, I had been living in this home for 5 years. Should I or can I even make a claim, I did not have renters insurance at the time, I certainly do now and am kicking my self in the but for not having it then we lost about 13,000$ of property.

Ok, I have spoke with a lawyer, he told me to send a letter to tell the insurance company that I want to submit a claim. He said if they are not willing to work with you, then him and I will meet , we will sign papers, then he will file a lawsuit. I did not sign a lease telling me to have renters insurance, I know I should of had it, then to the awnser about the why would they have renters insurance if the landlords insurance would cover it. Why do people that dont have insurance on their vehicle, get money from the persons at fault insurance company? OK so then tell me this is it legal/ proper instalation to vent an A.C unit in the wall that vents into a enclosed garage? Thank you all so much for your time and I greatly appreciate your comments, this is a huge eye opening exsperience to me.

Answer 1

Since you just learned the hard way that not having renters insurance is really foolish, I'll spare you the lecture.

However, the only way you can recover your losses is to make a claim against the responsible party, if any. The responsible party might not be the landlord, it could be the person who installed the ac unit or the wall outlet. You don't get to automatically make a liability claim against the landlords policy. They have to responsible in some way for the fire.

My guess is that your landlords insurance company will do an investigation to see if they can go after somebody to get the money back that they will pay to repair the house. I would suggest that you talk to them BEFORE trying to make a claim and ask them if they plan to do an investigation. If so, then let them do that then ask if they will give you the contact information for the responsible party. That way you can present your own claim to the responsible party or their insurance company.

Good Luck

Answer 2

It is true that you cannot make a direct claim on the landlord's property insurance. The way you have worded your question leads me to believe that you already know that.

As far as making a claim under the liability portion of his/her policy it is certainly possible but you would have to prove the landlord's negligence in court. You would need some convincing evidence that the landlord was in fact negligent and that negligence was the cause of your loss.

You would probably need to hire a lawyer and even then you might not prevail unless you could prove there was gross negligence.

Answer 3

You can't make a claim on someone else's policy, all you can due is sue them.

In order to win the suit, you have to prove that there was a hazardous situation, that he KNEW the situation was hazardous, and didn't do anything to prevent it.

Even then, he'd only owe you for the depreciated value of your stuff - the actual cash value, NOT the cost to replace it.

I don't think this is something you can win - ESPECIALLY if the rental agreement says you're supposed to carry tenants insurance. Generally, landlords are NOT held responsible for damage to tenants goods.

Answer 4

You can't make a claim on his homeowners insurance. This is why....b/c I rented my house.

Your landlords insurance on the house you are renting only covers the house not your property.

The only way you can be covered is "renters" insurance wich you get on your own. Your landlord is not responsible at all for your personal belongings.

I am sorry for your loss. and sorry I had to pass crappy news about your landlords insurance.

Answer 5

Your landlord's insurance will only cover HIS losses, and not yours. That's why renter's insurance exists. What would be the point of renter's insurance if the landlord's insurance covered the situation ?