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Hung Sold His House Before Ex-Tenant Starts Fire

We bought a 3-bed semi-detached house in Thurnscoe, Rotherham, South Yorkshire. We bought this property from a tired landlord. Hung Lee did not want to remain as a landlord. He wanted to start a business and release equity tied up in his investment property.

Everything went as planned and we bought the property within 3 weeks. In our local authority search, the planned HS2 was going a few yards away from the garden boundary. But we still honoured our purchase.

Hung Lee sold his property for cash and his ex-tenant allegedly burnt down the house.

We got burnt buying this house...

Buying property can be deceptive and expensive. We did not know that the next-door property was tenanted and the tenant was evicted on Friday. 

We bought our property on Thursday and on Sunday our property was on fire. Allegedly the former tenant returned to the evicted property and poured petrol in the living room and bedrooms and set the house on fire.

Fire rips through our house in Yorkshire
Fire rips through the house we bought in Yorkshire following an arson attack

Does your insurance pay out for a house fire?

Our insurance company did payout but only after 10 months. We had to employ the services of a loss adjustor to act for us. Naturally, any insurance company will either try to get out of option of paying out or delay paying for as long as possible.

What can invalidate house insurance?

Thank God, we were fully insured. Had Hung Lee not sold the property 3 days earlier, he would have not been covered because the property had been empty for more than 30 days.

You need empty property insurance on a full perils cover.  This is a specialist insurance product and due to increased risk of vandalism, arson attack or theft – this cover is very expensive.   If you sell your residential or commercial property to us, we can insure it once we exchange contracts therefore, giving you peace of mind.

How the story ended

We auctioned the property with just £1 guide price and took a loss on it because the quotes to repair the house were substantial and our house insurance company did not wish to fully repair the property.

It just goes to show that is not always glamorous in property world, and you can get caught out.

quick cash house buyers

If your house is too damaged by fire to sell it on the open market, we can help. We specialise in selling fire-damaged properties quickly and aim to give you the best cash price, so you can move on.

do you have a property to sell?

Property Saviour will buy your property in any condition.  There are no fees to pay.  We can complete within 10 days.

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