What to Do After a House Fire in Luton

The order things need to happen in after a house fire, who pays for what, and the one insurance question almost nobody knows the answer to: whether you are allowed to use your own builder.

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First, the things that matter in the first day.

Do not go back into the building until the fire and rescue service tells you it is safe. A structure needs several hours to cool and parts of it can become dislodged and fall. Fire services in England advise not entering without professional advice first. When the incident is closed you should be given an incident handover, verbally or in writing, which records whether the building is safe to re-enter and whether the gas, electricity, oil and water have been turned off.

Do not reconnect any utility yourself. Gas, electricity and water must be checked by a registered engineer before they go back on.

Contact your insurer as soon as it is safe to do so. The Association of British Insurers advises following the emergency services first, then calling your insurer, and notes that most insurers run 24 hour emergency helplines. If you have no insurance, the British Red Cross and your local council are the routes to emergency help, and GOV.UK has a page on financial help after a fire.

Photograph everything before anything is moved. Do not throw damaged items away until your insurer has advised you, unless they are a health hazard, and if you must, photograph them and keep a sample first. Keep every receipt for emergency spending.

BXC Developments does not do emergency response. Making safe, boarding up and initial drying are normally arranged by your insurer within hours. What we do is the reinstatement afterwards, and this page exists because that part is where people get lost.

Who is who, and who is paying them

The loss adjuster

Appointed and paid by your insurer to assess the claim. The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters describes an adjuster as an impartial evaluator, but the important practical point is who is paying. You can appoint your own adjuster, in which case you pay, unless your policy has a claims preparation clause.

The loss assessor

Acts for you, the policyholder, and charges you a fee for doing so. Citizens Advice suggests one may be worth considering on a large claim. A loss assessor acting for you may need to be authorised by the FCA, and you can check the FCA Register. We are not going to publish a typical fee, because no regulator or trade body publishes one and every figure online comes from firms selling the service.

Your insurer's approved contractor

Most insurers will offer their own panel contractor. If they appoint the repairer, the insurer is generally responsible if the work goes wrong, which is a genuine advantage and worth weighing properly.

Your own builder

You can usually ask to use your own. The trade off is set out in the FAQ below and it is the single most important thing on this page.

Building control

Reinstatement is not automatically exempt from the Building Regulations. The test in regulation 3(2) of the Building Regulations 2010 is whether the work would make the building fail a relevant requirement, or become more unsatisfactory against one, and those requirements expressly include structure and fire safety. Anything touching structure, fire compartmentation, means of escape or fire service access is caught.

The local authority, if the building is dangerous

Under section 78 of the Building Act 1984 a council may take immediate steps where a building is dangerous. LABC note that the owner or their insurer will normally be recharged for emergency works, because responsibility for the condition of a building sits with its owner.

Questions people ask after a house fire

Can I choose my own builder for an insurance repair?

Usually you can ask to, and it is worth understanding the trade off before you do. The Financial Ombudsman Service says it would usually expect an insurer to agree if the customer wants to use their own builder, but that in that case the customer is usually responsible for the repairer if things go wrong, and that the insurer should make that clear so you can make an informed choice. There are exceptions where the insurer keeps liability anyway, for example where its loss adjuster helped you get estimates, or the insurer negotiated the extent or cost of the work or specified methods or materials. Ask your insurer to confirm the position in writing before you decide.

What if I reject the insurer's repair offer and want cash instead?

You will usually get less. The Financial Ombudsman's guidance is that where a customer turns down a fair repair offer, the insurer only has to pay what the repair would have cost the insurer, which can be well below what it will cost you to arrange the same work yourself. The position is different if the insurer is the one electing to settle in cash, where the ombudsman expects the cost to the consumer to be taken into account.

Who pays for fire damage repair?

If you are insured and the claim is accepted, your buildings insurer pays for reinstating the building and your contents insurer for the contents, subject to your policy limits and excess. What is covered is set by your policy wording. Ask your insurer to confirm it rather than relying on what any contractor, including us, tells you.

Will my insurance pay for somewhere to live?

Most buildings and contents policies include alternative accommodation cover where the home is uninhabitable, and the Financial Ombudsman treats a property as likely uninhabitable where it is unsafe, or has no electricity or running water, or no kitchen, bathroom or toilet. Limits vary a great deal between policies, some as a cash cap and some as a percentage of the sum insured, so check your schedule. Where there is no evidence of actual extra spending, the ombudsman applies industry standard disturbance rates of GBP 10 per day per adult and GBP 5 per day per child.

How long does fire reinstatement take?

Longer than the building work alone suggests, because the claim has to be agreed, the structure has to dry properly, and structural repairs need building control. Anyone giving you a completion date before a scope has been agreed with the adjuster is guessing. We give you a programme once the scope is settled, and update you against it.

What can I do if my insurer will not settle fairly?

Complain to the insurer first. Under the FCA rules the firm must send a final response within eight weeks, or explain in writing why it cannot and when it expects to. If you are still unhappy you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and which you do not need a lawyer or a claims management company to use. There are time limits: broadly six months from the final response, and six years from the event or three years from when you should reasonably have known you had cause for complaint.

Should I sign anything with a contractor who turns up at the property?

No. Uninvited callers do appear at properties after a fire. Take nobody's word, sign nothing on the doorstep, and speak to your insurer before agreeing any significant clean-up or repair work, unless immediate action is needed to protect people or prevent further damage. That last caveat is the ABI's own wording.