Any business or homeowners whose homes or property was damaged in the riot related incidents this week are being urged to act quickly to be able to recover their losses through insurance policies.
The immediate instinct for those who have been affected is to spend time securing your home or business and to clear up any damage caused. But David Rayner, leading property lawyer at Essex-based solicitors Birkett Long, is reminding people not to overlook the need to contact their insurers as a matter of urgency.
“The vital thing to remember is that many insurance policies require claims to be notified within a specified time period, which quite often is as short as seven days,” said David. “If claims are notified outside that period they may well not be covered.”
David advised that most commercial insurance policies will cover businesses for any damage to their premises and this normally includes any interruption to their business as a result of fire, looting or damage. Even if the property or business has not actually been physically damaged, there will be some policies which cover loss of trade caused by the aftermath.
“The most prudent course of action for any business affected by the riots and looking to claim under an insurance policy, is to notify the insurers immediately, to ensure it complies with any time periods specified in the policy,” said David.
The legal definition of a riot is set out in the Public Order Act 1986 as being ‘where twelve or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence for a common purpose and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for his personal safety’. In those circumstances, each of the people using unlawful violence for the common purpose is guilty of riot, whether or not they threaten that unlawful violence simultaneously. Furthermore the ‘common purpose’ can be inferred from conduct.
Finally, David also advised that if any business or individuals find that they have suffered damage to property they could also potentially fall back on the provisions of the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 which allows compensation to be claimed against the local Police Authority.
“Any claim under this Act has to relate to physical damage only, so it wouldn’t cover loss of business for example, and has to be made within 14 days,” explained David. “It’s important to bear in mind that a claim under the Act, although it is against the Police Authority has nothing to do with how the police handled the situation; it is a matter of strict liability.”
