There was a fire in my apartment and I want to know what my options/rights are

Selkies

My flatmate and myself are in a contract for a year that ends in at the start of april.
On Saturday the 10th she was cooking using a chip pan and a fire started. She threw a fire blanket over it but the fire didn't go out. We left the building and called the fire brigade.

The kitchen is fire damaged most of the rest of the apartment is smoke damaged. The insurance cost will be rather significant.

Ok so the situation is I'm in a contract which I can't look at at the moment because its in my flat somewhere but I believe the wording is that any damage to the apartment can be taken from the deposit by the landlord.
Myself and my flatmate are both on the same contract so I assume that means we are both in the same situation, it doesn't matter who started the fire as far as the contract is concerned its both our faults.

Recently the land lady called me up and told me that she was getting an insurance assessor in to work out how much damage is done and I need to box up all my stuff. I didn't get any real notice for this but I didn't want to antagonise her given that she has 21 days worth of rent and a deposit which could be mine if all goes well (unlikely).

She has insurance and seems to imply that if the insurance covers it then she will give me my money. However there is always the excess which she could take from the deposit.

Now at the moment I'm living in temporary rented accommodation far away from my job, which means very long commute times and as a result no social life, (Newbridge -> Sandyford). Which kinda bites because I've already paid rent for this month, now I'm paying twice.

None of this is my doing so I really don't see why I should lose out.
I know life isn't fair but I'd really appreciate it if anyone had any input to add, I know that adding what my contract says would help more but I have very little time to sort all of this out before I have to move my stuff out of there and the land lady can put this on the long finger.

Thanks in advance

connundrum

Unfortunately life does suck for you at the moment.

The only person who can compensate you is your ex-flat mate, but it'd be kinda harsh expecting money from her as it was an accident after all.

I suppose your landlady didn't really have the right to kick you out - but she could probably claim that she needed to refurbish the entire apartment and couldn't do it with tenants there.

I guess you'll just have to wait it out and maybe live with a fireman next.

Victor

Selkies wrote: »

None of this is my doing so I really don't see why I should lose out.

It would seem that you both signed the one contract - this means you are stuck by your flatmates actions.

I presume the place is currently uninhabitable?

This is a rather exceptional case - seriously consider talking to Threshold and the PRTB.

www.threshold.ie www.prtb.ie

_Nuno_

I was told this by the person that came to out company a few months ago to give us training on how to use fire extinguishers that there's a law in Ireland that states that every landlord must provide a fire extinguisher in any rented accommodation.

EDIT: I don't really know if this is true or not and could not find any evidence online...

My landlord works in a insurance company and I sure have one in the kitchen.

The problem is that if there are insurance companies involved they probably will pick this and will use it as an excuse for paying less of the damage, or even nothing at all, so be careful.

I'd go to the PRTB with this.

antoinolachtnai

What law would that be?

I presume the landlord didn't supply the chip pan. There was a fire blanket, however. a chip pan is a pretty dangerous thing to have around.

Your joint tenant wrecked the flat. You and she are going to have to pay to fix whatever the insurance doesn't cover (although I'd say this will cover most of it).

I don't see why you should have to move out, if the place is habitable.

You may well be able to claim from the insurance from the insurance if the place was made uninhabitable. Really depends.

the_syco

_Nuno_ wrote: »

fire extinguisher

Most of these container water.

Selkies wrote: »

chip pan

This sounds like it contains oil, esp as your housemate used a fire blanket. She was clever. A hot oil fire + water = BOOM! Watch the following youtube clip showing a small bit of water on a oil fire in a controlled environment. Also, if it were an electric appliance, water may prove fatal.

If the insurance company tries to bring this up, pointing out that hot oil + water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QykIqRBSNkI

That's water he puts on the oil fire, by the way. The stuff you drink.

_Nuno_

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

What law would that be?

I have no idea, I assumed that since he was giving training he knew what he was talking about.

Anyway, I edited the post because I looked online and could not find anything stating that this is actually a legal requirement....

_Nuno_

the_syco wrote: »

Most of these container water.

The one here is powder, which would work....

Xiney

_Nuno_ wrote: »

There's a law in Ireland that states that every landlord must provide a fire extinguisher in any rented accommodation.

I can't find this on the list of landlord obligations. It might be true but I can't find it anywhere at all, except apparently in the UK.

_Nuno_

Xiney wrote: »

I can't find this on the list of landlord obligations. It might be true but I can't find it anywhere at all, except apparently in the UK.

You're right, I can not find it either so I edited the post. I think the extinguisher man was probably just trying to sell us some extinguishers :rolleyes: