Colleague's home flooded - responsible for neighbour's costs?

vaio

martin2345uk wrote: »

Oh she does want to put it right, but the neighbour is saying its going to cost £7,000 which has shocked her a little!

Would you expect insurance companies to usually pay for such situations? I've never had to claim before (touch wood)

How exactly did the leak happen? If for instance your friend dismantled a washing machine connection to clean the filter and didn't do it up tightly enough then that would count as negligence

macman wrote: »

........If she can't be bothered to 'afford' basic home insurance, then I doubt that she can afford to sue anyone.

A £7k claim wouldn't cost that much to do through the small claims system and lodging papers might result in the insurer paying some or all of the claim to avoid the largely irrecoverable costs of defending the case

loracan1

DirectDebacle wrote: »

A decent neighbour would want to put matters right asap if they had caused damage to a neighbours property, albeit unintentionally.

I don't know about anyone else, but having paid my own insurance premium I'd not be particularly willing (nor in fact financially able) to fork out £7,000 for someone who hadn't bothered. Does that make me 'not decent'?


Out of interest, what is the neighbour claiming the money is for - I was in much the same position, flooded out by neighbour, damage to flooring and decor. Saw the insurance invoice (obviously claimed on my insurance) and it was around £3,000.

keystone

Sounds suspiciously like "I wonder if we can get them to fund a new kitchen as well" OR "need a decent holiday anyway" principal operating here.

OP if you really feel a burning desire to a) admte liability and b) stump up your hard earned readies you need to fork out a little in advance too employ yourself a Loss Adjuster on a private basis to go in, assess the damage and price the remedial work. Certainly don't accept what your neighbour is saying nor should you even look at a copy of a "quote" which will have inevitably been inflated. Your insurance company isn't going to help you either.

Don't let emotion or a sudden fit of moral compass cloud your judgement. I'd be sympathetic (and probably even be thinking along the same lines as you) to your mindset if the neighbour had come up with a reasonable figure. Sorry but I suspect your neighbour is taking the p..s so I'd be playing hardball.

Cheers

DirectDebacle

martin2345uk wrote: »

Oh she does want to put it right, but the neighbour is saying its going to cost £7,000 which has shocked her a little!

Would you expect insurance companies to usually pay for such situations? I've never had to claim before (touch wood)

Appears the OP colleague is a decent neighbour. As long as the other neighbour is decent and not over inflating the amount of the claim then the matter should be satisfactorily resolved.

I don't know about anyone else, but having paid my own insurance premium I'd not be particularly willing (nor in fact financially able) to fork out £7,000 for someone who hadn't bothered. Does that make me 'not decent'?

No idea. I don't know you.

cyclonebri1

Alter_ego wrote: »

I would look into why the insurance company is refusing to cover the damage to neighbour's property.

Because every property should be covered in it's own right, can you imagine what premiums would be if it did work like that.

The only negligence here lies with the homeowner who neglected to insure their own home

moneyistooshorttomention

DirectDebacle wrote: »

A decent neighbour would want to put matters right asap if they had caused damage to a neighbours property, albeit unintentionally.

Yes........see above.

Alter_ego

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Because every property should be covered in it's own right, can you imagine what premiums would be if it did work like that.

The only negligence here lies with the homeowner who neglected to insure their own home

So should we ignore post 11?

cyclonebri1

Alter_ego wrote: »

So should we ignore post 11?

Not in so many words, but if you think negligence can be proved by someone who can't afford to or doesn't insure their own home then be my guest.
I've been in a very similar position, the insurers will and do close ranks.

kazwookie

Have you actually seem the damage to the next door property, I'd be going round with camera, to inspect it myself.

martin2345uk

Hey guys, thanks for all the useful replies. I'll just point out again that (touch wood) this isn't my house that's flooded but a woman in my office. Who's now on leave due to stress! One aggravating factor I only found out yesterday is she's already in the middle of a long standing feud with this neighbour; this really hasn't helped that! :-/