House next door caught on fire...

[Tamara R.]

I own a rental townhouse and the house next door caught fire on the second level. Our tenants notified us and we went by to take a look---they were concerned about the smoky smell inside their home (our rental property) and maybe that the roof might have been damaged. The home did indeed smell smoky inside on the top floor(though there didn't appear to be any smoke damage), and we couldn't really tell about the roof from looking at it below. We did call our insurance to have an appraiser come out. What else should we do or look for? Anyone else have this happen? Could our home have been damaged from a fire next door? There was a firewall that kept things from spreading.

We have a $1000 deductible, so if they find damage I assume that will come out of our pocket? Seems kind of unfair to have to pay for damage caused by someone else's house fire. This is the first time we have had to make a potential claim on our home/rental property insurance in 20+ years so not sure what to expect.

[Kyle Hipp]

In my experience, unless the neighbors fire was intentional or stemming from neglect they have no liability in you property being damaged. So you will have to come up with your deductible if you decide to file a claim. I had a similar situation and discovered this. I decided to not file a claim and just take care of it myself as it was more coet effective and I would not have a claim filed...