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Updated 13 days ago on . Most recent reply

User Stats

27
Posts
9
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Jack B
  • Amherst, OH
9
Votes |
27
Posts

Tenant's car caught on fire... Looking for advice.

Jack B
  • Amherst, OH
Posted

A few days ago, my tenant's car caught on fire in the driveway of a duplex that I own. The firefighters did a great job at stopping the fire from reaching the house, but there is some clear damage to the front siding and there is a broken window(see image). My insurance deductible is 1% of replacement cost or about $3,000. I've gotten a few rough estimates to repair the siding and replace the window for $5K or so, but nothing in writing yet, just waiting on them to come back. A few questions for those more knowledgeable on this than me:

1. My main concern is safety and liveability right now. I have a property management company who said that the unit is still livable because the fire only reached the driveway going to the siding of the house to the porch. I am also getting a general home inspector to come out there next week and inspect the inside. Is there anything else I should do here for safety?

2. At what point is tapping into my landlord's insurance worth it? I'm thinking that if the quote goes over $10K(which I don't expect it to), I will.

3. The tenant is a Section 8 tenant and did not have car insurance, unfortunately. The fire department's incident report says that the fire was unintentional. I think that I'm going to be the one paying for all this, unless somebody thinks otherwise?

4. Any other general advice here?

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