Should I claim off neighbour's insurance after a fire?

[FireAdvice]

My neighbour has "accidentally" set my massive conifer hedge on fire today - lost the garden office, two sheds, lots of bikes, loads of stuff, etc. Obviously the main thing is we are OK.

I have rung my insurance and they have said that I have to pay a £350 excess and they will cover other stuff. A friend has said I should claim on the neighbours insurance as then I won't be liable for an excess and also my insurance won't go up next year - how do I do that? Do I just ask the neighbour for their insurance details?

Have also lost about 30ft length of 9ft high conifer hedge - all the back boundary and half of the side boundary. But there is another 20ft of conifer hedge nearer the house still intact. My insurance have told me to get a quote for stump removal and fence instillation - can I ask for all the length of the hedge including the non damaged hedge to be removed and fenced the full length - it will look stupid having half fence and half hedge?

I'm sorry to hear that this man has previously caused you problems, I wondered why you hadn't mentioned him in your initial post, but clearly from past experience, you realised that he (and his mother from what she said about you), are likely to do everything they can to wriggle out of their responsibilities.

Is there any chance that you might be able to film him doing welding, at all, possibly from a bedroom window? If so, look out for an opportunity, as this would at least prove that he does do welding in his garden. I really hope that this doesn't take too long to get put right, and that it's not too stressful, as it's bad enough when it's your own mistake, but someone else's always feels much worse, somehow.

i deal with these type of insurance claims. As a previous poster advised, you do need to claim through your own insurance company. You can’t simply claim off someone else’s insurance as other people have (wrongly) advised. They will investigate whether there is a possible recovery against your neighbours insurers.

it is horrible going through this but this is why you have home insurance . Also if your insurers can proceed with a successful recovery they will try to recover your excess for you as well.

that's what I was thinking
I've had several large claims because of leaks from the apartment above - I have insured my contents, so claim from that.
Any insurance they have taken out is for their possessions, not mine.

I also deal with these. Apart from the legal liability issues (which can take months and months to iron out) a lot of people also don’t realise is that you’ll get new for old if you avail of your own policy but not if you claim against him. Even if you were successful in your arguments and his insurers (if he is insured) said they would consider your claim through the liability section of his policy, you’d only be offered an indemnity settlement, ie taking into consideration the age and likely remaining lifespan of any items you’re claiming for. So the bike you talk about, if it was bought five years ago you get the monetary equivalent of what you expect to pay for a five year old second hand one of the same make and model. These adjustments over multiple items can quickly erode whatever saving you might make on your excess.

Also specific to your situation if he’s that difficult to live close to I wouldn’t be antagonising matters further by putting a claim in against him and just get your own insurers to handle it. It’ll be sorted much more quickly and if they think there’s any realistic prospect of recovery against dickhead neighbour’s home insurers they will pursue it with them directly.

My friend did exactly this by putting a still hot disposable BBQ in a wheely bin that was against a shed. Lost the shed and the neighbours fence and garden room. Stupid, but it was accidental.

The neighbours did claim on his insurance.

OP how's it going today

I’ve just seen your post on TikTok and the damage is so much worse than I envisioned!

That's why you need to push the Police and Council to take enforcement actions against your neighbour

It’s pretty devastating isn’t it? The disaster person is coming out this afternoon. I’ve barely slept. Have spent the morning trying to wfh while also helping Dh and dd get some stuff a bit cleaned up. We keep finding damage in crazy places.

The catio roof attached to our house 100 ft away has holes in the plastic roof from the hot ash

Claim off your own insurance.
You might not be covered for the hedge. But if you have new for old, you will get replacement value. Neighbours insurers will only have to pay after making a deduction for wear and tear.
Replace hedge with a 6 ft fence and make peace with it. If you can, get a metal one he can't set fire to.

Ok thanks. I’ve spoken to a guy from Aviva today. He said that the claim is going to be way more than 10k so he has to take it to another team.

I’m slightly worried as I don’t have receipts for lots of stuff. My eglu is 15 years old, my lawnmower is 10 years old. Just don’t have them.

Insurance have said my policy is old for new and like for like. So if I want mature hedge rather than a fence I can. But the most mature they can source is 1.2m high.

That's absolute rubbish OP! Just Google 9ft high conifers and you'll find them, here's an example:

www.grasslands.co.uk/products/leylandii-hedging-castlewellan?variant=48912141254982&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20567917102&gbraid=0AAAAAD9b4xis16agt5GjswcaeV7o53U-I&gclid=Cj0KCQjwucDBBhDxARIsANqFdr0oGWx32b5I2a3-QOD08lOgldr2Ts31UNE_Favodaja4Qf70kOwEhkaAgniEALw_wcB

Here's another example Conifers As you will see, they do every thing from tiny trees, up to 4 metres - 14.8ft

Amazing - thankyou - I have just counted - we need 50 of them!!!!

WOW! That IS going to cost them, that's probably why the insurance company said they could only source the 4ft trees! Cheeky buggers!

Saw this on TikTok this morning….hell of a mess! No advice, just hope you get it sorted!

Christ what a mess, I’m so sorry. Also, he murdered your chickens?!?!?!? What a psycho!!!

Smaller hedging plants are more likely to "take", though, and they grow pretty fast. I'd be inclined to take the smaller ones.

I suspect that the insurers will have their preferred suppliers

Can you post a link to the pictures

Any more from the fire service or the Police?

Wow. Just seen your post on TikTok. What a mess. And what awful neighbours.

in work in insurance and you definitely can’t claim off his insurance. You have to have ‘insurable interest’ for a company to pay out - and your neighbour doesn’t have any insurable interest in your garden or belongings.

by the sounds of him, he won’t be offering to pay your excess either.

So sorry for you op 💐

We lived in a flat and our washing machine leaked. No damage to our flat, but the lady below had a damaged sofa, ceiling etc. she’d wanted to claim of our insurance but couldn’t. You can only claim of your own house insurance, not someone else’s.

This is one of the TikTok videos. There’s some other after ones too. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdhXwy9o/

I am an insurer by trade. When you talk about claiming on next door's insurance, I think more specifically you mean claiming against next door which their insurance would then cover? The extent to which this is possible will depend on the circumstances of the incident. I would speak to Aviva, particularly given I think you have the legal extension and ask them to pursue a claim against your neighbour. Quite important now as it may still be possible to gather sufficient evidence that the fire originated next door and if he was welding in warm weather outdoors, then he will be on the hook. I would be quite pushy on this. Too easy for this to come from your insurance which will push premiums up next year.