House burns down - Landlord Forum thread 334070

House burns down by Richard on April 24, 2015 @01:41

Our rental house burned down this past weekend in KS. The fire started in the kitchen and burned so completely the investigators said there was no hard evidence of fault. However investigators stated all the soft evidence and tenant story suggests tenants had an oversight after cooking burgers on stove, before leaving to go shopping. They had no renter's insurance despite lease telling them to get it.
Can I keep security deposit, to cover my deductible, or more (in case I'm not made whole), or not at all?

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Re: House burns down by Bob Barker (NJ) on April 24, 2015 @07:46	[ Reply ]

Not only would I keep their deposit and provide a letter why you are keeping it, I would take them to court to get a judgement for the cost of the loss which they should have had insurance.

Re: House burns down by John Brayton (Massachusetts) on April 24, 2015 @07:54	[ Reply ]

I recommend talking to a lawyer right away. A good lawyer can give you far better advice about this than we can, and there is enough at stake to easily justify the cost of a lawyer. John

Re: House burns down by Barb on April 24, 2015 @08:33	[ Reply ]

Agree with John, you have no proof of cause right now, only speculation of what might have been the cause. Keeping the security deposit might result in another legal battle that will cost you more money. As stated, seek the advice of a lawyer.

Re: House burns down by Jackie on April 24, 2015 @09:08	[ Reply ]

no you cannot just keep the security deposit because you believe the tenants caused the fire. doing so can cost you to return double or triple amount. you need an attorney to guide you and let your insurance company determine what they believe the cause was along with the fire department. it could be listed as undetermined and that would put you in violation of unlawful withholding the security deposit.

Re: House burns down by Brenda on April 24, 2015 @12:02	[ Reply ]

First, you should have the tenants renter insurance policy also named you, so if it was canceled, you would have been notified. Your failure to take any action in requiring renters insurance may mean that you have waived this requirement of your lease. Second, you have no definite proof of the cause of the fire. This is a job for your insurance company to figure out. As far as anyone knows, faulty stove wiring could be the cause. As to the security deposit, it belongs to the tenant until the landlord has a legal claim to it. So consult a lawyer on how to proceed. Do not just keep it to cover your deductible unless you have official proof the tenants were at fault and your lawyer says ok.

Re: House burns down by Richard on April 24, 2015 @23:07	[ Reply ]

Something tells me lawyers are going to have as differing opinions on this as all of us here in these replies. They all seem to be valid in one way or another. Both insurance and fire investigators suspect cooking error, but can't say it's conclusive. Even if they had renter's insurance, since it's inconclusive, I don't think such policy would pay us...just cover their belongings. Any lawyers care to chime in?

Re: House burns down by anon on April 25, 2015 @23:40	[ Reply ]

And who knows if rental insurance would have helped the property owner anyway. Rental insurance covers a wide range of topics--and does not cover lots of things. What is the best case scenario with a very expensive, good policy? Maybe it covers the owner's fire deductible? Who knows?