legal advise on builders damage

warney1

Hi all,
in July we renovated our house with rooms in the roof and a rear extension. The builders but the joists for the rear extension on the roof and wood chippings etc blew onto by neighbours conservatory roof. The roof she has a special layer of like bubble wrap stuff that keeps the heat out in summer and in, in winter.

She complained at the time and the builders jet washed her roof. this was not good enough according to her as the dust managed to get under her bubble wrap and she wants the stuff taken off and cleaned properly by the compant that fitted it for a cost of £250 plus vat.

She has been calling the company that completed our works but has not had any luck with them rectifing the problem.
I arrived home yesterday to a letter from her asking me to pay for the repairs to her roof.

My question is who is responsible? We had the work done but didnt cause the damage ( non permanant).

I dont want to fall out with her as she is a neighbour, but in the same breath i feel she has distanced herself by sending a letter rather than knocking on the door to speak to me about it.

Sorry for the long post, any advice greatfully received.

cyclonebri1

warney1 wrote: »

Hi all,
in July we renovated our house with rooms in the roof and a rear extension. The builders but the joists for the rear extension on the roof and wood chippings etc blew onto by neighbours conservatory roof. The roof she has a special layer of like bubble wrap stuff that keeps the heat out in summer and in, in winter.

She complained at the time and the builders jet washed her roof. this was not good enough according to her as the dust managed to get under her bubble wrap and she wants the stuff taken off and cleaned properly by the compant that fitted it for a cost of £250 plus vat.

She has been calling the company that completed our works but has not had any luck with them rectifing the problem.
I arrived home yesterday to a letter from her asking me to pay for the repairs to her roof.

My question is who is responsible? We had the work done but didnt cause the damage ( non permanant).

I dont want to fall out with her as she is a neighbour, but in the same breath i feel she has distanced herself by sending a letter rather than knocking on the door to speak to me about it.

Sorry for the long post, any advice greatfully received.

Maybe you didn't but your agent, ie, the builder working on your behalf did.

£250 seems a reasonable amount to put this to bed, builder should contribute/pay in full, but your neighbour has a valid claim in my view.

Try the reverse switch and see how you would feel.


Hope that's ok with you, just trying to play devils advocate.

Johnandabby

I completely agree with your neighbour - through no fault of her own, her roof has been damaged. If she has been speaking to the builders since July, and has not had any joy, what else can she do? Claim on her insurance and possibly pay more for future premiums? Why should she? If it was me, I would be asking my neighbour to pay up, and for them to sort it out with their builders

She probably didn't want to speak to you about it because she has had to deal with it since July - probably didn't want it to turn into an argument on the doorstep when you tell her that its 'not my problem'.....

jc808

Bit of dust? Nonsense - if her roof is that poorly sealed god knows what manner of pests, birds, leaves, debri etc can get in

Sorry, id ignore the neighbour

ormus

me too. see you in court.
i wanna see you prove that the dust has actually come from my building works.

phill99

Johnandabby wrote: »

I completely agree with your neighbour - through no fault of her own, her roof has been damaged. If she has been speaking to the builders since July, and has not had any joy, what else can she do? Claim on her insurance and possibly pay more for future premiums? Why should she? If it was me, I would be asking my neighbour to pay up, and for them to sort it out with their builders

She probably didn't want to speak to you about it because she has had to deal with it since July - probably didn't want it to turn into an argument on the doorstep when you tell her that its 'not my problem'.....

This is wrong. If this approach went to court, it would be laughed straight out.

The damage has been caused by the builders, not the home owner, therefore in law, the builders are liable. Ask any solicitor and he will tell you exactly the same.

OP, you need to write back to her saying that the damage has been caused by the builders (remember they have admitted as much by jetwashing her roof) and it is them that she should seek compoensation from. Give her their details and ask her to write to them seeking compensation. Its evident that she has the ability to write letters, its just that she needs to write to the responsible party.

In no way can you be held liable.

Think of this example: you buy a washing machine from say Argos. Argois deliver it and in the process the Argos driver reverses his van into your neighbours car. Who would be responsible? Argos would and your neighbour would have to seek compensation from Argos, not you. This is exactly the same relationship as your builder has with your neighbour.

warney1

Thanks guys for your response. Spoken with hubby about this in great depth. I really do appreciate the issue hear, im not a bad or aggressive neighbour, i dont want to fall out with anyone over this.

We are going to seek legal advise before we reply, to make sure i can fall back on what i say. ( parent at school is a solicitor) I will write to her explaining its not our responsibility and give her the details of the builders again. I will also call the builders and tell them she is not happy with the lack of response she had got from then and tell then they have to sort it out.
Surely builders have insurance for this sort of thing anyway?

I just wish she would have come to us when she was having no luck with the builders rather than let it get to this state. I would have called them up before now had i known.

DVardysShadow

phill99 wrote: »

The damage has been caused by the builders, not the home owner, therefore in law, the builders are liable. Ask any solicitor and he will tell you exactly the same.

Sorry, this is not fully correct.

The builders are the servants of the OP. So the neighbour has 2 ways to make a claim

• Against OP as master for the damage caused by his servants the builder
• Against the builder directly

If the neighbour claims against the OP, then OP would have a claim claim against the builder

The_Pedant

However, what part did the builders play in this by 'jet washing' it?

If that contributed in some way to any further deterioration then could it not be argued that that was the independent action of the builders, and not as a consequence or request of the OP? The original incident yes, but their choice of resolution/further action is surely independent of the OP's building work?

As you're going to seek legal advice anyway, that is probably the best way to proceed.

keystone

For £ 250 this is a "cup of tea and a nice chat over a bit of cake" question not a "get legal" question. All three of you. C'mon where's the proportion gone?

Cheers

cyclonebri1

keystone wrote: »

For £ 250 this is a "cup of tea and a nice chat over a bit of cake" question not a "get legal" question. All three of you. C'mon where's the proportion gone?

Cheers

Well you'd like to think so but given the scale of work done it's pretty certain where the dust came from, and I feel the neighbour has evey right to have the roof returned to it's former state.
I'm sorry but it wasn't their fault.
Another view though is why on earth would someone put a bubble wrap type material on the exterior surface of the roof where it is exposed to weather and dust and muck anyway???.
You could equally argue that the outfit that fitted it in the 1st place hadn't sealed it correctly.:A:A:A