Catching fire

Everybody cares about fire any time. Especially when you go out, you will never fail to check gas taps before leaving home. Since fire breaks out anywhere it’s used in cooking or smoking, you must be taking all possible measures to prevent fire. Furthermore, you must know that fire spreads easily once it takes place. You don’t underestimate it at all for fear of giving nuisance to your neighbors. Despite of your daily efforts for fire prevention, how you can prevent it when you catch fire from your neighbors?

Regardless of whether you live in apartments or not, you could catch fire more possibly in Japan because houses are densely built up anywhere nationwide except very rural areas. Houses are so adjourn each other that fire easily jumps to neighbors once it breaks out. However, in such cases of catching fire, you may not get worried about your own damages even though you don't take out fire insurance on your properties from the confidence of not causing fire yourselves. After you get damaged your properties, you may be thinking that you claim liabilities to someone who causes the fire for the reason that the fire is your neighbor’s faults. I'm sorry you couldn't be saved.

There is a special act in Japan that those people who cause fire and spread it to neighbors can exempt from liability for the damages of the fire. This is because the liabilities would amount to so large sums that it would be harsh for ordinary people with average salaries to pay for all the liability. Therefore you couldn't claim liabilities for your damages to the very person causing the fire carelessly. Thoughtful neighbors might give you a gift of money in token of their sympathy. Yet the heart-warm money is probably far from covering your damages. You have to protect yourselves by taking out insurance or so. Here is an exception in the act. They would have to take responsibility for it if they caused fire with willfulness or gross negligence. However, as long as people lead an ordinary life, it seems to be difficult to prove willfulness or gross negligence.

Conversely, if you caused a fire yourselves without willfulness nor gross negligence, you could exempt legally from the claims of victimized neighbors. Yes, that’s true. However, it would be premature to judge your exemption. Particularly, the situation is different in the case of living in rental apartments. You could exempt from the damages of neighboring residents in the same apartment on one side, you would be responsible for the damages of apartment buildings on the other. It’s because the act is a special clause of exempting only the unlawful acts(civil case 709). But it doesn’t exempt from the non-fulfillment of obligations(civil code 415) on contracts. Since there is a rental contract between you(tenant) and the apartment owner, you would pay for the damages of the owner’s apartment building. The rental contracts usually have an clause which obligates tenants to restore the rental rooms as they are. You don’t have to remodel the rooms as if they were newly built. But it’s obligatory to repair at least the damages you cause according to the contracts.