Ex Gratia Payment

typical_blonde

Well as suspected - he was lying through his teeth, he was just buying time so that he could sell the property at Auction without us mentioning to the Auctioneer that there was a dispute regarding payment of the damage caused to our property.

His Insurance company is saying that they are not liable - the bloke's gable end and roof fell onto our roof on a beautiful sunny day in July 2010 - my Insurance company is as much use as a chocolate fireguard! Guess what - we have paid £100 excess and had our premium raised by £25 per month as we have lost our no claims bonus.

HELP - what can I do? Can I take out a charge on his property so that we get our case when he sells? Should I go to the local papers? (He is a Chartered Surveyor). Should I rant at the Paralegal who is handling the case for my Insurance Company.

The stress of watching his wall fall over onto our property with all the attendant bricks and mortar falling round us was bad enough, but to have all this additional stress for 15 months is too much.

Sorry about the rant - can anyone give me any advice?

typical_blonde

Sorry should be CASH not CASE

chanz4

This is the reason I said to wait until the letter was recieved, as you have found it was a stalling tatic

InsideInsurance

Whilst it is obviously best for you to know where he is living, given you know his insurer's it will not be the greatest problem if he does move and doesn't tell you where he is going.

My greater concern would be more about the level of evidence that you have of his negligence to hold him liable in the first place but as you haven't asked about that I wont go into it

typical_blonde

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Whilst it is obviously best for you to know where he is living, given you know his insurer's it will not be the greatest problem if he does move and doesn't tell you where he is going.

My greater concern would be more about the level of evidence that you have of his negligence to hold him liable in the first place but as you haven't asked about that I wont go into it

I have photos of the event which clearly show that his roof/gable end has fallen in on itself. His Insurance Company say that the roof was well maintained and that the chimneys were repointed within the last 4 years - rubbish, the chimneys were done around 10 years ago and only then because I spotted them moving in the wind and told him I needed him to get them fixed, before (oh the irony) they fell through my roof. In the event the chimneys were the only piece of the roof that stayed up. The Dangerous Structures man came from the council, as did fire brigade etc. Have tried to get a report from Dangerous Structures man but that has not been forthcoming. He did state at the time that he knew the owner of the property and did not want to put a DS order on the property, but to give him time to sort it.

I should be able to get exact date of chimney repair/maintenance as the conservation officer had to agree that he could truncate the height of the chimney.

It is a business premises not a residential one and the owner said that we would be paid out on his 3rd party liability insurance.

Any help?

vaio

Obviously get proper advice but I think the position is that he is only liable if you (or your insurance company) can prove negligence (in the legal sense i.e. he knew or could reasonably have been expected to know that the structure was dangerous and did nothing about it).

Don’t hold your breath but his occupation might count against him in this case as what a Chartered Surveyor would be expected to know/notice will be different from ordinary Joe Punter.

Might I ask why your insurance company aren’t pursuing this?

typical_blonde

vaio wrote: »

Obviously get proper advice but I think the position is that he is only liable if you (or your insurance company) can prove negligence (in the legal sense i.e. he knew or could reasonably have been expected to know that the structure was dangerous and did nothing about it).

Don’t hold your breath but his occupation might count against him in this case as what a Chartered Surveyor would be expected to know/notice will be different from ordinary Joe Punter.

Might I ask why your insurance company aren’t pursuing this?

Thanks for your comments - our Insurance Company is SUPPOSED to be pursuing this, but so far they have been really useless.

It took 10 months before they contacted the neighbours insurance company, then the Solicitor who was dealing with it gave it to a paralegal to deal with. The other insurance company wrote back and said that the building had been maintained and the paralegal appears to have disappeared into a corner, sucking her thumb!

We are the only ones out of pocket, as we have paid the excess and now our insurance premium has increased by £300. TBH don't really think that the Insurance company is that worried as they are already getting their money back by way of our increased premiums.

Will be changing insurance company next year as I am disgusted with the way this has been handled. I have had to push the whole way through.

vaio

Well, if you feel you have been disadvantaged by the unreasonable delays and/or decisions of your insurance company then you can make a formal complaint and if still unhappy at the response refer it to the FOS.

I’d guess complaints get looked at by experienced people higher up the food chain so might well concentrate their minds.

Is there any evidence of negligence? (in the legal sense rather than the “part of his house fell onto yours” sense).

typical_blonde

vaio wrote: »

Well, if you feel you have been disadvantaged by the unreasonable delays and/or decisions of your insurance company then you can make a formal complaint and if still unhappy at the response refer it to the FOS.

I’d guess complaints get looked at by experienced people higher up the food chain so might well concentrate their minds.

Is there any evidence of negligence? (in the legal sense rather than the “part of his house fell onto yours” sense).

In the 15 years we've been here he has done no maintenance to the property, expect for the repairs to the chimney which I forced him to do around 10 years ago. In 1998 a front casement attic window completely fell out and onto the street, narrowly missing an elderly lady. The building is Grade II listed (as is ours) and in a conservation area, but he replaced the attic window with a piece of perspex.

Not sure I can prove that he neglected his property although it was generally considered to be derelict and one of the newspapers which reported the roof story, stated that a derelict building had collapsed.

vaio

Obviously get some proper advice but my thoughts…….

You might be able to put together a negligence argument but in the absence of a DS notice you’d be relying on the chimney & window (both 10 years ago) and arguing that as a surveyor he either knew or reasonably should have known it was dangerous. Not going to be easy and you really need to consider what you stand to gain (basically your excess & any other uninsured losses) vs what you stand to loose in terms of legal fees, report fees etc.

Your insurance company stand to gain much more than you and if they aren’t interested in pursuing it I can’t see that it’s even going to come close to being worth you doing so unless you can get someone else to pick up the legal fee risk.

I realise it goes against the grain but if you can’t get your insurance company on side I’d be inclined to forget it and move on.