|
You are entitled to make a claim against the council for any damage or injury that you believe the council or our contractors have caused to you or your property.
For example, if you are a council tenant and a council contractor were to hammer a nail into the wall and inadvertently burst a pipe resulting in the floor being flooded and damage to your carpet, the council would be liable as their contractor had been negligent (at fault) for not taking appropriate measures to complete the work in your property safely. In this example the council would be liable to clean and dry, or, if need be, replace your carpet.
Establishing negligence
However, the council will not always be liable even where damage or injury has occurred. The key issue is whether the council has done or not done something which could be classed as negligence. For example, if there is a particularly bad storm which lifts some roof tiles off and, as a result, water comes through the roof, through the ceiling and damages a bedroom carpet, the council could successfully argue that it was not liable as it was not at fault (negligent), as it could not have predicted the damage or prevented it from happening.
Establishing negligence can be a complicated matter and we suggest you seek advice and discuss any potential claim.
Council staff are not allowed to either admit or deny negligence. This has to be decided by the council’s insurers who will decide if the council has been at fault and is therefore liable for the claim made against it. This means we have staff who are able to discuss a potential claim with you and who will not be either encouraging you to make a claim where it is clear the council is not at fault, or discouraging you when you have a valid claim.
You can of course also seek independent advice, but you do not need to pay for legal advice in deciding whether to make a claim or not.
Making a claim
Should you wish to discuss making a claim please contact one of the following:
- For any claim against Housing Services or their contractors - Fiona Walsh, Customer Relations Officer - (01926) 456447.
- For any other claim against Warwick District Council - Christine O’Rourke, Insurance Officer - (01926) 456823
These staff will discuss your claim and can send you a claim form for you to complete, sign and return. If you need help completing the form please discuss this and appropriate arrangements can be made.
Alternatively you can download a form for completion and return it to the relevant contact: Download an Insurance Claim Form (26kb) pdf
Insurance claims for roads and footpaths
Warwick District Council does not deal with insurance claims relating to the roads or adopted footpaths in the district, which are the responsibility of Warwickshire County Council.
If you have a claim relating to these please contact Bob Chimes (Warwickshire County Council) on(01926) 410410 or visit the county council's highways pages.
The process
You can nominate someone to deal with your claim on your behalf. If you make us aware of this arrangement we, and our insurers, will deal direct with them rather than you.
Once a claim has been made it will be passed to our Insurers. Once it has gone to them they will contact you (or your nominated representative) direct if they need any more information and with their decision on your claim.
Sometimes the council’s insurers will decide that a claim should be passed on to another party. For example, if damage has been caused by a contractor working for the council the claim might be passed on to their company. However, if the contractor did not settle a claim for which they were liable in a reasonable period, the council will intervene on your behalf and make suitable arrangements with you before claiming costs back from the contractor if necessary.
Building contents
One question the council is often asked concerns building contents. If you are a council tenant your home will be insured by us. This means if the building itself is damaged or if it burnt down in a fire the council could claim the cost of repairing the damage, or rebuilding, from its insurance.
However, this insurance cover is for the building only and not anything inside it. We strongly urge that every tenant should take out their own contents insurance.
If you don’t already have contents insurance and would like the re-assurance of having it, Housing Services are able to assist. Warwick District Council has arranged an insurance policy with a reputable national insurance firm which is exclusively for its council tenants. This gives you the option of paying for your insurance weekly or monthly with your rent, rather than as a lump sum, and offers various levels of cover.
More information
Tenants Contents Insurance.
The viewer that is needed to display the pdf document(s) is free and may be downloaded from the Adobe Website.
|