Landlord's responsibility?

PippaGirl_2

Although this story is much more relevant to my situation. A local councillor had said I would have to prove the LA negligent in order for them to pay out and this would tie in to the answers given on this thread. Where the LA may have paperwork of inspections given to roadside trees and trees in public areas to prove they are keeping an eye on the condition of the trees, I would doubt they do that to trees in the back gardens of their properties so maybe they have no evidence they have monitered the condition of the trees?

[Deleted User]

I've got a funny feeling that the LA will claim it was an 'act of god' that caused this tree to fall.., nothing to do with them being negligent. Plus it would probably take a couple of stressful years to get the cost of the shed back (particularly hard as I would imagine the LA will have to cover a lot of unbudgeted for expenses/claims because of this storm).

While you are having problems managing, I would suggest (as insurance rarely gives you full cost of replacement you may have to prioritise what you replace and so not replace all the goods) deciding if a smaller shed from a company who will install it for you (its how I got a shed installed) will do.

Nobbie1967

PippaGirl wrote: »

Although this story is much more relevant to my situation. A local councillor had said I would have to prove the LA negligent in order for them to pay out and this would tie in to the answers given on this thread. Where the LA may have paperwork of inspections given to roadside trees and trees in public areas to prove they are keeping an eye on the condition of the trees, I would doubt they do that to trees in the back gardens of their properties so maybe they have no evidence they have monitered the condition of the trees?

I think this is the avenue to pursue as simply letting a large tree grow in a garden without regular maintenance/assessment would seem to be negligent. The LA could claim that it was the tenants responsibility to have these checks/maintenance done, in which case the liability may fall to them, but this claim would be even more difficult to pursue as they probably don't hold records of how they checked the tree and could claim it looked fine.

I suspect this is not worth pursuing very far as you will have to lay out money to get a tree surgeon's report on what caused the tree to fall. If the tree was otherwise sound, then it would be act of god, but if there was obvious advanced desease in the trunk, then maybe there would be negligence. Once the tree is cleared away it will be difficult to prove.

cattie

PippaGirl wrote: »

I think the shed cost me £400 or more 3 years ago as it is large, strong and was pressure treated. Also a friend's husband took a week off work to put it up for me then (I have disabilities), and now really I would need to pay someone to put a new one up which would increase the cost hugely.

It should only take a couple of hours or so to erect a shed. Many companies offer a service whereby they will dismantle the old shed & put up the new one & take away what remains of the old shed when they are done. So you could select a company offering this kind of service if you manage to make a successful claim for your damaged shed, rather than have the worry of trying to find someone else to do it.

dacouch

Your contents insurance will normally provide a limited amount of cover for outbuildings typically circa £1000 but could be less or considerably more.

It may also provide some cover for "Tenants Improvements".

How much is your excess and whats the new value of the contents that's damaged?

TSx

Generally, a shed can be considered under a contents policy where it is a housing association or council property (it can be considered household goods, or as dacouch has pointed out, 'tenants fixtures and fittings') - and I have discussed that with the financial ombudsman technical helpline in the past. Getting your insurer to actually pay for it may be another matter!

The limit for contents in an outbuilding usually applies only to the theft section, but not always, it will depend on your insurer.

It is very unlikely you would be successful in recovering any money from the local authority - it has nothing to do with insurance, it is a principle of law that there generally has to be an element of fault for you to be legally liable for something.

sonastin

Have you spoken to your insurers yet? I know you mentioned you couldn't claim until you could get in there to assess what has been damaged but it is worth making contact sooner rather than putting it off. They might be able to help you with getting the landlord to remove the tree or just help you to understand what you'll be entitled to claim for once you can get in.

harrys_dad

Looking on the bright side, at least you were not in the shed at the time the tree came down.

PippaGirl_2

Thanks everyone for your replies, apologies for not returning sooner to update. The Christmas shut down of the council and insurance company meant I only was in contact with them this week. I phoned the council tree department and the phone operator said she was surprised I hadn't already heard as they had caught up with all storm related tree incidents from the storm but she would chase up my situation. Within minutes a tree man was on my doorstep, apparently a colleague had come out before Christmas, assessed the tree and decided it originated not from my neighbours (council owned) garden but from the other side of them (privately owned) so decided it was not a council issue and they closed the file. They hadn't let me know though. This tree man then climbed into my neighbours garden to examine the tree and agreed with his colleague. Amazing that this tree came from 2 gardens away given it's size plus the fence between my neighbour and the tree owner is still totally intact whereas my fence between me and my neighbour is completely crushed by it! Anyway this changes things hugely. The tree man was gobsmacked by the size of the tree and the devastation it has caused my garden. He says that the owner of the tree is not liable for any damage to my property as it was an act of god, the tree appears to have been healthy in his view. However the council legal team 'think' that the tree owner is liable for the clean up costs of clearing away the tree from the garden so he went and spoke to the tree owner about this. Tree man phoned me later to say the tree owner is contacting his house insurers to see if his house insurance covers the cost of clearing up the tree. If it does, then he will then decide whether to get his own contractor to clear it up or ask the council to do it and pay them. Tree man says they could do it very quickly if tree owner says they can and he will pay them. I just hope the tree owner is insured for it now. I did ask the tree man what would happen if the tree owner wasn't insured and wouldn't therefore pay and he said that he suspected the council would clear the tree up and then they could deal with payment between the council and the tree owner later, so although that's not set in stone I am likely to get a garden back at some stage anyway.

So to the sheds, I dug out my insurance paperwork and saw my shed cover is £500 so about what I paid for the 2 sheds so my heart plummeted thinking that wouldn't cover contents as well as replacing sheds (not to mention labour) but as TsX said above having spoken to my insurers yesterday it would seem that the contents of my sheds are covered by my normal household contents cover which I hadn't realised. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have paid extra for shed cover as every penny counts for me at the moment and it would never occur to me that my sheds would get crushed! However I did so I have £500 which will replace the big strong shed and repair the small cheap shed, though it won't cover labour.

All in all the situation is better than I had hoped. It has triggered my anxiety hugely because I feel awful that I am causing the tree owner stress and financial loss through no fault of his own. I realise it's not my fault either but I want to be a good neighbour and somehow feel I'm not because of this.

The claim form arrived yesterday but I need to phone the insurers again to say it will be a while before I can submit the claim as I can't get near the shed to see what contents are damaged until the tree is moved and I'm not sure how long that will take given the dispute/other insurance and payment issues of that clear up.

Thanks everyone for your help, a lot of you were right!

silvercar

Amazing that this tree came from 2 gardens away given it's size plus the fence between my neighbour and the tree owner is still totally intact whereas my fence between me and my neighbour is completely crushed by it! Anyway this changes things hugely.

Let's hope that the tree owner agrees that the tree belonged to him/her.

Trees pole vaulting definitely suggests an act of god

All in all the situation is better than I had hoped. It has triggered my anxiety hugely because I feel awful that I am causing the tree owner stress and financial loss through no fault of his own. I realise it's not my fault either but I want to be a good neighbour and somehow feel I'm not because of this.

Don't be stressed. Owners are far more likely to have insurance than renters. The council are offering to deal with the problem, so the private owner will no doubt put one in contact with the other and not be stressed - especially as it is not their garden that has been devastated.