Rental property burned down -- need advice

[Erik Kubec]

Hello Folks,

Every landlord and tenant's worst nightmare.

Our friend (recent single mom) had just moved into a house in north suburbs of Denver. She had been there one month and didn't have renters insurance. She came home to the house burned out and everything destroyed.

The word is that the landlords had been doing some sort of 'lacquering' project in the garage. Around 10pm, the neighbor heard an explosion and looked to see the house on fire. Nobody hurt. All of Sara's belongings, except what she had with her when she was out, are gone.

My thought is to recommend that she get an attorney. If what we have 'heard' is true--that the landlord's actions caused the house to burn down, I would think she has some claim. Do landlord insurance policies typically cover tenant's losses?

Here is a link to her page:

http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/help-rebuild-sara-after-house-fire/39856

You can look it up on www.9news.com

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[Tom S.]

Hi Erik,

Very sorry to hear. As the others have stated above, typically tenant's possessions are not covered. I'm a landlord and specifically write it in my leases, in bold, that renters insurance is strongly recommended and that no tenant possessions are covered by my policy.

An attorney would probably have to file a claim against the landlord's insurance company to proceed with a negligence claim, but in my opinion, unless there's proof it was intentional, it would be hard to win a claim.

- Tom