Police report for malicious damage claim

My insurance company (RAC) tells me I need to have a police report to claim malicious damage - 3 bedroom doors (1 missing, holes in doors etc).

I have photos from PM but she says "The damage was caused by the tenant so they would not do a police report for this"

RAC asked me a whole bunch of questions like - when was damage done, who did it, were there any witnesses, what kind of damage, how was damage inflicted ....

So this seems to be a no-win situation. Anyone have any experience? Do police attend after the fact (all doors have been replaced and have new tenants in now), or will they issue a report without visiting?

And how am I supposed to claim, without a police report (as requested by RAC) if PM is telling me they won't usually come out anyway????
 
hmm, thats wierd. Is your insurance specfically for Landlords Insurance? What is your PM suggesting?

Insurance people will do anythign to get out of paying out. Either way whatver you pay, tenants will need to pay for the damage
 
In QLD I just call the police on the non-emergency number, and describe the situation.

They ask all the same questions that your insurance company has asked, and they give you a crime number. Nine times out of ten they are totally disinterested, and will not come and 'investigate' anything.

Just google how to report property damage in WA and do that. Then give the crime number to your insurer, you shouldn't need a copy of the report or anything, I've never needed one.

Matt
 
Our experience is the same as Matt's.

As advice, you cannot expect that all police are aware of the insurance claim requirements. So it is worth saying simply that your insurer requires that you report and you need a report number. Priorities, police choose what they give time to and when. But they do card reports on the computer.

Of course life could then get interesting for some tenants. Psychologists say that behaviour generalises. The antisocial act of (allegedly) damaging your property is likely to be just part of a pattern of behaviour.
 
Your pm is slack, all the need to do is call local police and report incident and they will give you a number to pass onto insurance. They'll need dates and descriptions. It's just a quick phone call, they don't attend.
 
Thanks guys. I ended up calling the police and asked them what normally happens. They wont come out but she was happy to file a report for me. However, I needed the exact date and time of the last property inspection, so ... I will handball it back to my PM as I also need exact details of where damage was done etc.

Yes they are slack! Want to change PMs but not sure if anyone else will be much better
 
I hope you change PMs! The reason for having one is to help and sort out problems like these. Interview them, they don't need to be interviewed at the IP although they will ask to see. Have a bunch of questions and do your research on them, even call them pretending to enquire about a property they have for lease. Just to see how they interact with people etc

Gluck !!
 
Just to dispel some of the myths ....

Police have to prioritise all calls for service. Threats to life receive a higher priority than damage to property. Unfortunately, domestics, assaults, disturbances, homicides, suicides, armed robberies, drug overdoses, car accidents and sexual assaults take up most of the time. It doesn't mean they aren't interested when they say they won't attend, it means they are deploying resources in other areas that have a higher priority.

You do not need police to attend the scene to make a report. Police will attend if making inquiries with neighbours is likely to yield a result, or if some forensic evidence can be obtained. You can report the crime in person at a police station or in most jurisdictions now by telephone.

You do not need a police report to make an insurance claim, however, your insurance company pays the police to obtain a copy of their report. In your case, you should make a report because the grub that did the damage should be made to pay and a conviction recorded. You will need proof so make sure the photographs of damage are retained, and keep the invoices / quotes so that compensation can be made by the court.

Your property manager, as your agent, is quite capable of making the police report and I would insist that they do since you are paying them 8% to basically operate a bank account.
 
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It's certainly commonplace for the insurer to ask for a police report for malicious damage, but as they are unlikely to ever attend, other users are quite correct, the police report number over the phone is quite adequate. The reason is essentially that some policies will only pay for Malicious Damage (not Accidental), so if it's not classified as malicious they get out of the claim, or if they do pay Accidental Damage it may be that the excesses are or levels of cover are different. Basically if the Insured (or their property manager) are not willing to report it to the police, then the Insurer figures it may not be malicious at all.

But it is a simple process to do it.
 
Bah! First my PM says I should do it myself, as they will charge me $77 to lodge the police report for insurance purposes. I finally get photos of the damaged doors from them, and ...

the police says they will NOT file a report as it's a tenant who has caused the damage and I have to pursue them in civil courts! WTF??!! I have no details, no address ...

About to lose it!
 
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