Looking for some quite specific advice from anyone who has had a bad house fire

[wherethewildthingis]

We had a bad house fire at the beginning of December- all of us are OK but all our home contents need to be written off and there is a lot of work on building to be done.
We have separate companies involved with content and building insurance. That has not happened on purpose but somehow has evolved like that , then just auto renewed. Both companies are being fine to deal with.

Building insurance are paying our costs for accommodation and we are due to move from holiday cottage, into an unfurnished rental, in about five weeks. We have no furniture or house items at all at the moment. Had some interim payment on the contents but that was needed for clothes etc. All contents are still in house, next week they will start listing and valuing.

So my dilemma is how do we get furniture and other things we need? Buildings people are saying they will only pay rent and not for furnishing. We can't afford to buy new and even if we could, the house is very different from ours and I'm reluctant to buy things we cannot really use at home. For that reason I don't really want to push contents insurance for money, as we may then end up buying unsuitable things.

I am unsure what to do. If anyone has been in this situation please can you advise ! Thanks

Check what your policy says but I would have thought they should find a furnished place for you. Someone I know was out of their home for a year and was in a serviced apartment so everything was provided, even plates and bed linen.

If you can’t get new furnishings, maybe you could post a ‘wanted’ on freecycle or see if you can get basics from there whilst you wait for money to come through ?

I've never been in this situation, but have you tried seeing if the British Red Cross can help? www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/uk-emergency-response

May not be something they deal with but a quick phone call won't cost you anything.

Thank you all they are good suggestions. The red Cross came out on the night of the fire to check we were OK, I hadn't thought of contacting them again for help.

You can also download the Olio app and put wanted listings on there too.

I gave away a double bed on that app and iv seen tables, sofas and all sorts on it locally. As long as you can collect the items, they are given away free.

EBay - search BFF or ‘nearest to me’ . I picked up sofas and beds for around 50 quid each.

Sorry to hear about your situation - that must be devastating.

One thing to consider for a significant insurance claim might be to appoint a loss assessor - they manage the claim on your behalf in dealings with the insurers' loss adjustors to ensure your claim is paid in full and you have appropriate accommodation and expenses paid in the interim. They take a percentage of the eventual claim but it can be worth it if it is a high value / complex claim, dealing with multiple parties etc.

You should be able to claim for immediate expenses for necessary items (towels, bed linen etc.)

Also as others have said, check what your policies say. I would expect you should be offered equivalent accommodation.

British Heart Foundation stores sell furniture and electricals cheaply second hand. You don't need much to start. Mattress on the floor is fine until you can afford a bed. Possessions can be piled on the floor until you can afford storage. It doesn't matter what storage, any form of cupboard or shelves can be used for your clothes. A sofa, washing machine, fridge you can get all from there as well as crockery and cutlery. You can manage without a freezer (and a fridge for a while if you have to, especially in winter, fresh food milk etc left in an unheated room will last a few days). If they don't deliver they'll know someone who will, they have man with van type removals who collects furniture donations for their shops.

Facebook marketplace people sell good stuff for next to nothing

Local Facebook community pages.

We often have posts asking for goods ‘my daughter is setting up her first flat/I'm moving out of the YMCA type posts) Loads of items offered, we all have too much ‘stuff’ and it costs to get rid of it.

I am sure you could post your story and get many offers.

Your local auction house is also worth a view. You will need to arrange transport but there can be some amazing bargains.

I wondering if your contents insurance will pay for you to rent furniture until you are back in the house?

Roughly what area of the country are you in? Someone may be able to give more local advice/signposting.
Buy as cheap as possible the absolute basics you need to survive for now.
Glad nobody was hurt in the fire and hope you get back on your feet ASAP

Thanks all. I think i will ring both Insurers on Monday and clarify as it doesn't seem right that neither of them are helping with temporary furniture! I will also register with olio and get looking on market place !

Our buildings and contents were with the same supplier so I’m not sure if it was contents or buildings it came under but we had an unfurnished rental and the loss adjuster supplied everything we needed - furniture, towels, bedding, basic kitchen equipment etc.

When we moved back to the house we just had to arrange a time when they picked it up.
most was very basic but exactly what we needed while we were away from our home.

Hi I'm so sorry for your losses. We had a bad house fire last June so I know what you are going through.

We initially stayed with family while insurers found a house. People donated clothes/toys and we went to Asda and got a few essentials. Once we had a house They gave us an interim payment of £1500 which we bought mattresses, tv , linen, towels etc. They also gave us a further £1500 to purchase very cheap furniture for our rented house (we had to go Argos/charity shops) we got beds, settee, curtains, microwave, kettle etc all buffet brands. I'm not sure what happens to that stuff when we move back. I think we have the option to buy it or they donate it. Some companies rent furniture for the house but ours didn't.

Yes we are still in the temp accommodation, the first thing that happened was a restoration company went in and went through our contents deciding what stays/goes. We went in and photographed everything and itemised everything too. (I recommend you do this) That took a couple of months . It then took about 3 months to arrange builders. We met with builders this week and have been given may as a date to more back. So 11month. I need to go will post again about contents. Pm me if you want to talk.

Provided you are definitely going back to your house I can't see how it matters if the furniture is the wrong style for the current place as it won't be there too long, fingers crossed.
As above try FB marketlace/gumtree/shock/nextdoor apps for free or cheap furniture and also look at camping equipment, either borrowed or new, easy to move and does the job temporarily, especially stoves and tables etc.

This brings back memories. We had a massive house fire in November 1992. We were out of the house until August 1993. The insurance company appointed a loss adjuster. Contents paid out quickly. We rented part furnished. A one off payment for some furniture was given within a few weeks. I bought a settee which we kept and took back to the original house. I hated it and got stuck with it for years. It always reminded me of the fire. It’s s difficult time but in some ways you refocus on the importance. Years later I have no attachment to material things or houses. Live very minimally and I think this is s residual from having nothing not even a pair of pants. The insurance company went in and boxed anything remaining up. By the time I returned I didn’t need anything in those boxes. Thinking of you all x

Sorry I had a demanding child wanting breakfast. !

To give you an idea of what the damage to ours was, it started upstairs the fire was contained to one bedroom but there was smoke/heat damage throughout the upstairs and smoke damage downstairs. We were supposed to go on holiday so luckily had a suitcase of clothes inthe boot of the car. Other than that all that survived was some kitchen ware (least affected room) and some stuff in the loft.

Contents is the biggest hassle,as I said we photographed everything. The restoration company did the same and they sent their list to us and the insurers. We then had to price everything up and send it onto insurers (we had to provide receipts or links for anything over £200) This took us about a month to do. The insurers spent about 2 months checking it. A couple of weeks ago they sent the list back offering 8k less than we asked. We have had to go through the list again agreeing/disputing and providing links. We have just sent back a counter claim so waiting to hear back. If this is agreed we should hopefully have the contents money in the next few weeks .

They also paid one set of council tax as we have still had to pay at the old property . They paid for our post to be redirected.

Some insurance companies are better than others. Ours has been pretty rubbish to be honest which has added to the stress. My advice would be take your time and be kind to yourselves.

With regards to your furniture issue check both your policies wording as I said some will rent furniture ours gave cash (1500 did not go far) . Also ask friends/family if they have any spares, we had lots of crockery, a toaster, clothes rails donated also charities may donate.

Good luck and as I said message if you want to chat.

We recently managed to furnish a flat for two people almost for free by posting an ad on my kids school noticeboard app, searching Olio and then buying a few extras through the British Heart Foundation furniture shops. We were specific about what we needed in the wanted ads and explained the situation. People were extraordinarily generous and helpful.

We also have a loss adjuster which is great because you have a contact person and we have a building surveyor . Between them they are covering everything.

Sorry to hear about your fire. I’m glad you’re all safe and I hope you’re mentally doing ok.

We had a kitchen fire years ago but it was confined so we were able to stay in the house albeit without any central heating from January to September. That was a bit harsh!

Regarding your furniture dilemma:

We moved abroad and our house contents was in storage for about 9 months whilst we were looking for somewhere to buy. We rented a part furnished house during that time and we spoke with the manager of a local charity shop who let us ‘buy’ some furniture and bits and bobs (kitchen table & chairs/sofa etc. for a donation. He arranged delivery and after we moved into our new house, he arranged re-delivery and took back all the furniture to re-sell it as it was still in good condition. We’re still good friends with him many years later. Some charity shops have huge furniture warehouses so definitely speak to someone and ask if they can do you a deal.

We were given some money to buy cheap stuff from IKEA like cheap tables and chairs and sofas.

we bought a proper bed for us and Dd which came home with us when we moved in. We begged another sofa off someone. Pans and stuff, we just bought really cheap. But insurance paid for all of it.

Thanks all. I think I'm going to ring the building insurance guy again tomorrow and check that he's got it right. It feels like they should be giving us something towards temp furniture as part of our accommodation costs! Thanks to everyone sharing experiences, I'm sorry you've been through this as well and hope you're ok