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Insuring your council home and its contents
Councils are not responsible for insuring council tenants furniture or possessions. If you are a council tenant and believe that the council is responsible for damage to you or your possessions you may be able to make an insurance claim.
What the council insures
The council insures its council dwellings and, thus, in the case of a fire that destroyed a property the council would claim on its insurance for the cost of repairing the property.
However, the council does not insure any of the contents of its properties that belong to the tenant, (e.g. furniture, decorations or improvements). Therefore as a tenant you may like to consider taking out contents insurance to protect these things. Home contents insurance is available from a variety of insurance companies and probably the best starting point is the Yellow Pages telephone directory.
The council can also give you advice on home contents insurance should you require it. Many councils offer tenants comprehensive insurance cover within their own Home Contents Insurance Scheme. If you take out insurance cover under your council's Home Contents Insurance Scheme, you will need to obtain an official claim form from a local Housing Office. Once you have completed the form you will need to send it to the Council's Insurance Brokers.
The following link will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website where you can find out more about insuring your council home.
Making an insurance claim
Council tenants can make insurance claims against the council for any damage that the council causes to the tenants' possessions, or injury to the tenant or members of their family.
For example, if a council tradesman were to hammer a nail into the wall and inadvertently burst a pipe which resulted in the floor being flooded and ruining the tenant's carpet, the Council would be responsible for the cost of replacing the carpet.
However, there are a variety of other issues for which the council may not be liable. For example, if there is a particularly bad storm which lifts a tile off of a roof and as a result water comes through the roof, through the ceiling and damages a bedroom carpet, it is unlikely that the council would be judged to be negligent as this circumstance was out of the council's control. Under such circumstances the council would seek to reject any such claim.
The following links will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website where you can find out more about insurance claims.
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