Problems getting damage paid for - advice please!

Poggie123

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could advise me about a problem with damage to property.

At the start of December the garden wall belonging to next door collapsed onto our garden in a storm. It crushed our garden furniture and guinea pig run etc – in total approximately £500 of damage.

The property next door is rented so we let the letting agent know that we wanted to claim for the damage to our property against the Landlady’s insurance, and sent them a list of the damaged items, where they were from and approximate prices.

The letting agent said that damage to our property caused by the wall falling was not covered by the Landlady’s insurance and we needed to claim on our own policy. Our policy does not cover us for the damage as it was a storm that caused the wall to collapse, and we sent proof of this to the Letting Agent.

We have now had a letter from the Agent on behalf of the Landlady offering to replace the guinea pig run (£40) and stating that she has no obligation to do so. Obviously this does not cover the damage, the subsequent damage to the lawn caused by the letting agent contractor chipping brick mortar onto it, or the fact that we have a garden which our children and guinea pigs cannot use.

Despite numerous requests the agent will not give us the Landlady’s name or details so we can speak directly to her. They will not give us the details of her insurer so we can contact them about claiming, and they insist that everything goes through them. We have no evidence that her insurer have refused to pay for our damage, or that she has even told them we wished to claim. The agent told us that the wall would be rebuilt several weeks ago and would be paid for by the insurance but nothing has happened.

The tenants next door are lovely and have their own issues with the agent too, but obviously it is their home and I can’t expect them to give us details which could cause problems with the Landlady.

It feels like the agent is blocking us from doing anything to resolve this and hoping we’ll go away. Does anyone have any advice? We’d be very grateful!

foxwales

Send a letter before action to the Owner of the house. The Letting agent is obligated to pass this on. If you receive no response or action within 28 days, start a small claims court claim.

warmhands.coldheart

first of all are you 100% sure it is their wall? If you are 100% sure, lodge small claims court documents with the agent, see what they do then!!

macman

The neighbouring property owner is not necessarily liable unless the damage could reasonably have been foreseen, i.e. if the wall was visibly unsound and liable to collapse in extreme weather.
If there is a valid claim then you should pass this to your own insurers and let them deal with it.

warmhands.coldheart

Poggie123 wrote: »

.....The letting agent said that damage to our property caused by the wall falling was not covered by the Landlady’s insurance......

Yeah, like that's your problem... the cheek of them !!

Poggie123

Thank you so much for your replies

We checked with the Land Registry that it is her wall on the day it came down because we were worried about the inconvenience to the tenants next door if it was ours!

We have told the agents that we thought the wall was compromised by the 3ft trellis she had on it and the climbing plants growing up it. We have photos of this before the agent's contractor removed it. These are victorian terraced properties which all have walled gardens, and her wall was the only one to fall in the storm.

I am very dubious about the agent anyway, at one point they suggested that we should contribute to the Landlady's excess...

burnsguitarman

We have had a similar thing happen to us.
A couple of years ago, The roof of next doors garage blew off during a storm.It landed on our caravan which is stored in our back garden, causing considerable damage.
We had to claim on our own caravan insurance, as the neighbours insurance would only be liable if we could prove that the roof was already in a state of disrepair and the neighbours had been aware of it , and had done nothing to rectify it.
It cost us quite a significant amount to put right and we lost our no claims .
It isn't fair, but it's the way insurance works I'm afraid!
To be honest, if it had been my property that had caused the damage, I would have made sure the neighbours didn't have to foot the bill and would have paid their out of pocket expenses myself. But thats another story.

StuC75

Quite likely its an 'Act of god then', if its the only wall to fail, then its unlikely that such an issue could have been forseen. So wouldn't be liable for that happening (much in the same way that your own insurance cover wouldn't be paying out)..

Think there is a thread elsewhere where someone's car was damaged as a result storm damage to neighbours roof...

Poggie123 wrote: »

Thank you so much for your replies

We checked with the Land Registry that it is her wall on the day it came down because we were worried about the inconvenience to the tenants next door if it was ours!

We have told the agents that we thought the wall was compromised by the 3ft trellis she had on it and the climbing plants growing up it. We have photos of this before the agent's contractor removed it. These are victorian terraced properties which all have walled gardens, and her wall was the only one to fall in the storm.

I am very dubious about the agent anyway, at one point they suggested that we should contribute to the Landlady's excess...