Help please

amanda47

Builder doing house renovation next to my Daughters House, and has caused some damage. When she approached him about this he told her to get some Quotes in for the work which she has done. the assessor for his insurance has come to the house to look at the damage and write a report, why he was asking so many questions I don't know. Why would he want to know where her and B/F worked ?, anyway they were told they would hear in seven to ten days, three weeks later still nothing so she phoned them yesterday and he said there was a dispute going on between the insurance and the Builder, insurance wants to pay them builder doesn't he wants a engineer to have a look, then the assessor who came to the house asked if she was willing to go half with the cost of the work :mad:. do you think its now time to see a solicitor, they held off from this because of the cost, they are only young and don't have much money for this.

Builder has also done some building work without having planning permission he likes to do the work first and ask permission later.


Any help much Appreciated

Youdontseeme

Without knowing the extent of the damage......

It may be in your daughters interest to appoint her own surveyor (the cost of which is usually charged to the other party) Depending on how close by the work is actually be done this should have really been done before the work which I admit, is pretty difficult to organise if there is no planning consent in place.

If you do need to get a solicitor involved, try get one that specialises in property disputes, personally I think it would be worth a phone call to a surveyor first to explain the situation and find out if its too late to get one on board at this stage.

YDSM

Youdontseeme

Just to add there is no way they should pay half, although as the property wasn't surveyed before the work started the builder (again without know the type of damage) could say some of it was existing...

hardpressed

Do they have legal cover on their house insurance? If so get them involved.

cattkitt

I think these people try it on. I remember a friend being involved in a dispute about a car crash. The friend had offered to pay, so as not to claim on his insurance. The other side initially demanded a large sum, and then after a while, said oh yes, btw you don't have to pay the VAT that we'd added to the bill.

If my friend had just paid up, they'd have been quids in!

SkintGypsy

I deal with these types if claims in my day job. It sounds like fault is accepted for the incident, but not necessarily the full extent of the damage, hence the extra investigations. Depending on the cost of the damage (has there been an estimate) whether your daughter intends to claim on her own policy would have a bearing on whether she should inform her own insurers. If she did inform them, they would fight it out amongst themselves, but ultimately she may end up with a claim on her policy, but if it is a minor amount then worst case scenario they may have to split the cost. Any idea what they allege could be an alternative cause of the damage? Have they seen the insurers report? Obviously if she does intend to claim off her own policy she will need to inform her insurers asap, otherwise cover may be withdrawn.