The fire on Heritage Day at the Broadwalk Urban Village in Midrand raises questions on what rights tenants have if they have been affected by a fire.
Lorraine-Marie Dellbridge, of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty offers advice on what tenants should do if their home has been damaged by a fire.
Dellbridge said that depending on the cause and severity of the fire damage, the following could apply:
– If the property has been completely destroyed, obviously the lease is cancelled.
– If the property is only partly destroyed, but not liveable, the landlord could request the tenants move out until the property is liveable again. No rent is to be paid during this time.
– If the property is only partly destroyed but still liveable, the landlord can repair and the tenants remain in occupation, however, at a lower rent.
Tenants should know that if they caused the fire, then they are responsible for any insurance excess payable or, in some cases, the cost of the full repair.
“Hopefully the landlord is insured. Most property owners are sensible about insuring such a large asset and if there is still a bond on the property, the bank usually insists on building insurance,” Dellbridge said.
In the situation where the landlord is insured but the insurance refuses to pay out due to the damage being caused by negligence, then the tenant will be liable for the entire claim which would be considerable if the entire property is destroyed.
According to The Rental Housing Act:
“A landlord’s rights against the tenant include his or her right to claim compensation for damage to the rental housing property or any other improvement on the land on which the dwelling is situated, if any, caused by the tenant, a member of the tenant’s household or a visitor of the tenant.”
Dellbridge said that if there has been a fire, in most, if not all lease agreements, it states that a tenant is responsible for their own insurance on their belongings. This means that tenants need to have household insurance.
Tenants and landlords need to keep in the mind that the responsibility to find an alternative accommodation to stay in, depends on various factors including:
– what the Lease Agreement states
– the province in which the property is situated
– the cause and the severity of the damage as mentioned above.
“Some provinces have by-laws that state a landlord should find the alternative accommodation in certain circumstances,” Dellbridge said.
Taking care of the cost of the alternative accommodation also depends on various factors, however, the way that the fire was started should be taken into consideration.
Dellbridge said: “If the tenant caused the fire by, for instance, leaving hot oil on the stove, logically it follows that they’re paying for their own accommodation.”
IOL Property