Family feels frustrated after a crash next door left their home reeking of oil

Four months after a car slammed into his neighbour’s house, Terry Bremnar says he feels like he’s still paying the price.

“We’re not at fault here,” Bremner said, standing in front of a gaping hole that used to be his driveway.

“The house next door is now gone. They had their house bought out and I’m sure that the individual that had their $200,000 Mercedes, has now a new car. Things have flown downhill to our house and here we are, four months later, unable to go back into our own house.”

READ MORE: Halifax police seek driver of vehicle that smashed into Clayton Park home

On May 12, a driver in a black Mercedes ran a stop sign and was pursued by police who then lost sight of the car.

The car was located a short time later after it had lost control and smashed through an oil tank and into the side of a house on Clayton Park Drive. The house was written off and was demolished. A for sale sign now stands on the empty lot.

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But Bremnar’s house now reeks of oil, something he believes has been caused by the accident in May.

His insurance company has deemed the house safe to move back into but a strong odour still remains.

Bremner said he has asked the insurance and restoration companies for a copy of the air quality assessment but has so far been unsuccessful and is now considering paying to have his own assessment done.

“We’re being forced to do our own air quality testing and I suspect that it’s going to be a quite hefty price that we have to go through at this point,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're being forced to do our own air quality testing and I suspect that it's going to be a quite hefty price that we have to go through at this point," he said.

“That takes weeks. We don’t have weeks, we have days right now and we’re not getting many questions answered by the insurance company. They don’t believe that there’s odour in the house at all.”

READ MORE: Halifax police searching for suspect in car crash that levelled Clayton Park home

“The fire department found that there were odours in the home but they thought maybe it was paint, as every piece of the house was painted three times over and they thought they could smell paint odour. That painting was done over five weeks ago and shouldn’t have that odour at this time,” he said.

When Global News reached out to Pembridge Insurance for comment they provided the following statement via email:

“We are sorry that the family feels their home is unsuitable at this time. We are working with them on the resolution of their claim.”