Hi All. Friend of Hamsters has had his car damaged. It was parked on a residential street with terrace houses along both sides. During some recent windy weather a brick chimney pot collapsed and, although the bricks missed the car the TV aerial didn't. It has damaged one door and scratched to door glass. For a good repair it needs a door skin and a glass, plus two trims. About £1200 worth.

The householder is a tenant and the landlords insurance are refusing to pay out as it was an 'Act of God'. Is this a valid and genuine reason?

Friend could claim on his car insurance but can't afford his excess.

Which direction should we pursue this? Landlords insurance or car insurance or let car insurance fight landlords insurance.

Friend is a tenant somewhere else so he does not have contents insurance, thus no legal expenses insurance but we may be able to get some help from his own car insurers who I believe are Tesco's. Insurance was recently renewed with Tesco's and it's now with Tesco Bank, not RBS.

Hammy

i know someone this happened to and it smashed his windscreen they too also said it was an act of god.

Hi Hammy

"Which direction should we pursue this? Landlords insurance or car insurance or let car insurance fight landlords insurance."

I have had a bit of experience with an incident like this as I was asked to inspect a chimney stack that had collapsed during a storm an insurance company paid me to report on any defects to cut a very long story short it was eventually decided that the house owner was at fault due to poor maintence as they have a duty of care to ensure the property is in a good state of repair to prevent injury and damage.

Hope this helps, if I were you I would be tempted to let car insurance haggle with house insurance but this may go on for a long time

CB

Hi All. Friend of Hamsters has had his car damaged. It was parked on a residential street with terrace houses along both sides. During some recent windy weather a brick chimney pot collapsed and, although the bricks missed the car the TV aerial didn't. It has damaged one door and scratched to door glass. For a good repair it needs a door skin and a glass, plus two trims. About £1200 worth.

 

The householder is a tenant and the landlords insurance are refusing to pay out as it was an 'Act of God'. Is this a valid and genuine reason?)

I would not have considered it to be valid, as it appears intended to exculpate the mortals whose negligence may have contributed to the fall of the chimney.

It would not be a very good idea to use that excuse as the basis of a claim against the Church of England, even if they might once have claimed to be God's agents on Earth.

Ask them if God has been prosecuted for this dispicable vandalism. If not, it looks like it was the weather and weak chimney after all. If the insurers will not pay, sue the owner of the building. Your claim is against them.

Little chance of recovery, unless the owner/occupier was aware of the impending accident and it can be documented or agreed that this was brought to their attention, there is little chance of proving negligence. If the chimney withstood normal winds and it was a storm force that brought it down, then it was an act of God.

Before so readily accepting that this was an act of god, I would query the condition of the roof. If the roof looks like it has been well maintained then you might have a struggle on your hands, however, if it is pretty shabby then, as curly bob states, a reasonable landlord needs to "ensure the property is in a good state of repair to prevent injury and damage."

Also you state it was pretty windy - not storm conditions. Have the Insurers "proved" that the winds were strong enough to damage a well maintained chimney?

If it was an "act of God".... then how can anyone successfully claim storm damage when such situations occur?

I've had a claim for storm damage go through on my roof before. I needed to give them the precise date of the storm and they sent someone round to assess the condition of the roof..... It went through with no probs. but I needed to get 2 estimates for repair beforehand (if I remember rightly).

Same principle.... in that God must have caused that weather, so to speak.... lol

Not true priorityone. You claimed for storm damage under your own insurance. You have entered a contract with your insurer, and they have agreed to pay out for damage to your property caused by storm.

However, we are talking about claiming under liability insurance. Hamsters friend has to prove the owner of the chimney stack was negligent in causing the house to fall under a state of disrepair, that it was obvious the chimney stack would have fallen over.

Not true priorityone. You claimed for storm damage under your own insurance. You have entered a contract with your insurer, and they have agreed to pay out for damage to your property caused by storm.

 

However, we are talking about claiming under liability insurance. Hamsters friend has to prove the owner of the chimney stack was negligent in causing the house to fall under a state of disrepair, that it was obvious the chimney stack would have fallen over.

Oh I see.... apologies....

Negligence goes beyond the state of the roof, you have to prove the roof was in a bad state, not be able to withstand normal winds and the main factor, that the landlord was aware of it and did nothing.

To prove this, he/she would have to admit to being aware and doing nothing, or you, or someone else brought it to their attention.

You may want to speak to the tennants see if they knew about it, if they did, did nothing - i.e not tell the landlord, it could be their occupiers liability under the contents that picks this up.

Leave it to your insurers, but make them aware you want them to look into this, not just give in at the first go.