Regardless of the cause of the fire, significant damage or complete destruction of citizens' property occurs. Compensation for damage in the event of a fire can be carried out in various ways, this will allow you to make repairs or purchase a new home.

In the material presented you can find out what financial assistance is provided to fire victims by law, and how to receive compensation after a fire.

Options for compensation after a fire

Immediately after extinguishing a fire, citizens have a legitimate question - whether financial assistance is due in case of a house fire, and who should pay it.

The answer to these questions depends on many factors:

• on what basis did the injured citizen live in the burnt house or apartment - as the owner, or as a tenant of municipal housing;
• for what reason the fire occurred and who is the culprit of the fire;
• whether an agreement was drawn up with an insurance company for a house or apartment.

Attention! Establishing all the circumstances of the fire, including identifying those responsible, is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies and emergency services.

Receiving a Refund

All significant circumstances of the incident must be recorded by the firefighter who arrived at the call of citizens.

The case materials must reflect the nature of the damage to the house or apartment, since it will directly affect the grounds and amount of compensation received after the fire.

Important! After the fire, an investigation is being carried out by law enforcement agencies to establish the fact of deliberate arson. Download for viewing and printing:

If such a fact is not established, a resolution is issued to refuse to initiate a criminal case. This document will be one of the grounds for applying to government agencies for compensation.

Payment of compensation at the expense of the guilty party

If the fire occurred due to the fault of a specific person, including as a result of careless actions, the fire victim has the right to recover from him the full cost of the damage.

Such collection is carried out taking into account the following features:

• if intent to commit arson is established, compensation for damage is possible by filing a civil claim in a criminal case;
• If the initiation of a criminal case is refused, the recovery will be carried out in a civil case.

During the trial, the degree and nature of the arsonist’s guilt, as well as the reasonableness of the amount of damage, will be established. The value of damaged housing and property can be assessed on the basis of an expert or appraiser, including at the initiative of the court.

Attention! If damages are recovered by a court decision, their execution will be carried out forcibly until the debt is fully repaid.

Bringing to criminal liability does not relieve the convicted person of the obligation to compensate for damages.

Do you need information on this issue? and our lawyers will contact you shortly.

Payment of insurance compensation

If the owner of a house or apartment has prudently insured his home against fire with an insurance company, he has the right to receive compensation under the insurance policy.

Important! If a fire is recognized as an insured event, citizens are guaranteed to receive payments within the amount.

To receive compensation, you must contact the insurance company and attach documents confirming complete or partial damage to the house or apartment.

The documents may include:

• investigation materials;
• fire certificate issued by authorized officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations;
• conclusion of an expert or appraiser on the value of the damaged property.

Important! The insurance company has the right to independently assess the damage, and if there is a disagreement on the amount of payments, it is obliged to pay the undisputed part of the insurance compensation.

After checking the documents, the insurance company pays compensation in case of fire, provided for by the conditions.

Receiving compensation from the state in 2019

Who can count on compensation in case of fire from public funds? Assistance in case of fire from the state or local authorities is possible only in exceptional cases and for certain categories of citizens.

These special circumstances include:

• fire or damage to property is a consequence of improper performance of duties by employees of state or municipal bodies (for example, repair crews, fire services, etc.);
• As a result of the fire, the fire victims completely lost all their property, money, documents, and do not have the opportunity to purchase new housing.

In these cases, assistance to fire victims will be in the form of emergency housing, or cash will be paid for destroyed property and burnt real estate.

Assistance to fire victims can be provided by law only if a number of conditions are met:

• The official cause of the fire cannot be intentional actions, i.e. arson;
• the burned-out home must be the only one owned by the fire victim’s family;
• housing must be owned by affected citizens.

Verification of these conditions will be carried out after citizens contact state or municipal authorities.

Providing housing for fire victims

The rights of fire victims to housing depend on the legal status of the burned house or apartment. If these objects were owned by citizens, they themselves bear the risk of damage or loss of their property, therefore, in exceptional cases, they can only count on receiving monetary compensation.

The obligation to allocate new housing, including for temporary accommodation, arises only in the case of ownership of housing under social rental conditions.

There are the following options for providing new housing to injured citizens:

• allocation of premises from the reserve fund on social rent terms;
• provision of temporary housing at the expense of the state or municipality for the entire period until permanent housing is received;
• payment of subsidies for the purchase of new residential premises.

Attention! The owners of a burnt house will not be able to exercise this right; the state is obliged to provide housing only to tenants.

To obtain housing, citizens must contact the state or municipal authorities that own the housing stock.

Along with the application, they must submit documents confirming the fact of the fire, as well as damage to the residential premises, which does not allow it to be used for living. The main document will be a certificate that must be issued by the fire service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Important! If citizens occupied housing on social rent terms, payments to fire victims by law can only be made in relation to the damaged property.

The basis for the decision will be a statement from the affected citizens, as well as documents confirming the amount of damage caused.

Benefits and payments to fire victims

If a house burns down, what financial assistance is provided for homeowners?

The most common option for supporting fire victims is financial assistance in case of a house fire. Owners of a burnt property who meet the above conditions have the right to count on receiving it.

In the event of a fire, it is allocated in cash and directly depends on the value of the destroyed object, as well as the income of citizens.

Procedure for receiving monetary compensation

The actions of fire victims aimed at obtaining compensation can be presented in the form of step-by-step instructions:

• obtaining a report from officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as a certificate of the results of the investigation;
• issuing a resolution to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings;
• collection of documents confirming ownership of burnt housing;
• obtaining an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate about the absence of other housing on the right of ownership of fire victims;
• obtaining a certificate and the cost of damaged or destroyed real estate, as well as movable property;
• issuing income certificates for citizens whose property was damaged by the disaster;
• obtaining certificates about family composition or extracts from the house register;
• filing an application for compensation;
• submitting an application and documents to a state or municipal authority.

Note! Compensation for a fire in a private home can only be paid if the home was not insured and citizens did not receive compensation for damage from the insurance company.

Amount of payments to victims

Financial payment does not mean that citizens will receive compensation for damage in full.

Attention! The maximum payment cannot exceed 120,000 rubles, and not every affected family can count on even this amount.

The amount of actual compensation will depend on the amount of damage caused, as well as the general income level of the citizens who applied.

Verification of these circumstances will be carried out only on the basis of statements from fire victims; state and municipal bodies are not obliged to independently make such decisions.

Regional assistance to fire victims

As a rule, at the municipal level additional benefits are provided for fire victims.

They may include:

• provision of timber on preferential terms or free of charge for;
• payment of one-time emergency compensation is needed for each family member injured in a fire;
• other individual benefits.

For such payments, the reserve fund of heads of local self-government is used, which is approved annually in the amount of 1% of the local budget.

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Situations often occur when people are left homeless due to a fire. What to do in this case? Do fire victims have the right to compensation for the purchase of housing?

Legislative regulation of the issue

All issues related to housing are regulated. It reflects the right of fire victims to help from the state. At the regional level, local authorities can develop their own programs to help this category of citizens.

What assistance is available to fire victims in 2019?

People who were left without a private house or apartment as a result of a fire have the right to apply for compensation or obtain other living quarters. What type of assistance will be provided depends on the following factors:

1. Type of property burned.
2. Cause of fire.
3. Presence of a person responsible for the fire.
4. Registration of property insurance.

When a fire occurs, all the facts are clarified by the fire service and law enforcement agencies. The Ministry of Emergency Situations employees are required to obtain a document confirming the fire, on the basis of which assistance will be provided.

Procedure for receiving monetary compensation

To receive monetary compensation in the event of a fire in a private home, you must contact the appropriate authority and submit a claim. If someone set fire to the property, you should file a claim in court. If the house was insured, you will need to contact the insurance company. And if fire victims have the right to receive state compensation, then they need to visit the local government authority.

The amount of compensation depends on the amount of damage caused and the income of the fire victims. Therefore, you cannot expect a full refund. As a rule, the payment amount is small, so it is not enough to purchase a new home.

Payment of insurance compensation at the expense of the state and at the expense of the guilty party

The right of fire victims to compensation for the purchase of housing from the state is available only in specific situations. These include the following circumstances:

The fire occurred due to the fact that state or local authorities improperly performed their duties. For example, on the ground, the culprits may be employees of the fire service, repair crews, whose work was not properly monitored by the relevant authorities.

The housing was completely burned down, along with money and documents, and the victims of the fire do not have the opportunity to buy new living space.

People can receive help from the state if they meet certain conditions:

1. The cause of the fire does not appear to be intentional arson.
2. The home that was lost is the family's only residential property.
3. Compliance with all specified conditions is verified by the local government authority.

If the fire occurred due to the fault of a specific person, then the victim has the right to recover money for the damage caused from him. In this case, it does not matter at all whether the person deliberately set fire to the apartment or whether this happened as a result of his careless actions.

In this case, obtaining compensation from the culprit for the purchase of housing is possible in the following way:

1. If it is established that the arson was intentional, compensation is carried out through the court with the initiation of a criminal case.
2. If the guilty person is negligent, compensation is collected in a civil case.

During the trial, the degree of guilt of the person and the amount of damage caused will be determined. An appraiser is involved in the case and indicates the price of the burnt home. Collection is made by court decision. If the culprit does not pay the money himself, then execution is carried out forcibly.

Insurance payments after a fire are always a significant help to victims, in fact the only chance to minimize damage and obtain a livelihood during this difficult period. However, even if you have a policy, it is not always possible to obtain these funds, because it is in the event of a fire that companies are most often denied. It is still possible to receive compensation in case of a house fire from the insurer; the judicial practice prevailing in the country often ends up on the side of the victim, but not the insured. Our team will help you win the case: professionally, profitably and on time.

How and where to go if an insured event occurs after a fire?

There is a specific list of what to do if the insured house burns down:

• find a policy and identity documents;
• receive a copy of the report on the incident and its causes;
• assess damage and document;
• write from the insurer.

After this, you need to wait for the company’s response and the appointment of an examination on their part.

There are three possible scenarios:

1. least likely: the examination confirms the owner’s assessment, the insurer agrees with the payment.
2. most common: the amount of damage turns out to be significantly underestimated, the insurer agrees to pay only that, and the property owner can either agree or sue.
3. no less common: the insurer, after assessment, recognizes the case as not insurable and refuses payment completely. In this case, you should immediately go to court, attaching to the application all the documents for recovery of fire damage from the insurance company and the results of the examination.

When can insurance benefits be denied after a fire?

Most often, unscrupulous insurers refer to the fact that the fire occurred due to the fault of another neighboring property owner. This clause can indeed be separately stated in the contract, but it can and should be challenged, since the law does not provide for such exceptions.

Another common reason for refusal is the owner's fault. A faulty stove or gas water heater, old wiring - all these are not reasons for refusing payment. If the insurance company replied that it was not an insured event in case of a house fire and indicated this exact reason, you should remind it that, according to the law, this is not the deliberate destruction of property, and therefore there are simply no reasons for refusal. The procedure for receiving insurance payment in case of fire will be determined by the court after a thorough trial. However, the owner should be prepared for substantial legal costs, since it is extremely difficult to prove anything in the event of a fire.

Other compensation for damage in case of fire

It should be noted that Russian legislation provides for a number of other compensations for victims of fire, these include in particular:

• If the residential premises are not insured, the owner should pay attention to collecting the amount of damage from the culprit of this event. In this case, if a person intentionally caused harm by setting fire, it is possible to compensate for the damage by preparing a civil claim in a criminal case.
• compensation provided by the state, these payments take place in extreme cases and under a combination of certain conditions, namely the fire is caused by some kind of natural disaster, the residential premises are owned by the victim, the housing is the only one.

Dispute with an insurance company regarding insurance payment

It is necessary to consider in detail situations when the insurance organization refuses to recognize the incident as an insured event or does not properly assess the damage caused.

Data usually occurs in court. However, before drawing up a statement of claim and preparing for a legal fight with the insured, it is necessary to consider the issue of pre-trial procedure for resolving this dispute.

In this case, the claim settlement procedure should be considered, while victims often wonder whether it is correct and as effective as possible in order to increase their chances of receiving a full insurance payment. To resolve this issue, it is better to contact our experienced lawyers who have extensive experience in this area.

We should also not forget about state control over the activities of insurance companies and the possibility of filing a complaint against unlawful actions of an insurance organization.

The practice of resolving these complaints is varied, including not always in favor of the consumer, which is why this dispute can only be finally resolved in court.

USEFUL: watch the video of our YouTube channel about insurance compensation, if the insurance company does not pay, what actions will be most effective in restoring the right. Write your question in the comments and an insurance claim lawyer will answer you free of charge: professionally and on time.

However, if you still decide to contact a government agency, you should take into account that appeals, as a rule, are addressed to the prosecutor’s office, Rospotrebnadzor, which is also more popular. These bodies are authorized to audit the activities of the policyholder and oblige them to eliminate violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation.

If you are interested in the information presented, also read: the article contains very useful material. Contact our lawyer who will help with advice, drafting a procedural document, representation in the insurance and judicial authorities. Let's solve your problem together today.