neighbours tree damaged our fence

Plasticman51

During the night of 22-23 Dec a dead tree in the corner of the property next to ours came down and brought down both ours and their rear fence. At the time of the incident the property was in the process of being sold as the owner had died in July. I initially contacted the estate agents and sent them pictures of the damage. They sent these on to the solicitors handling the sale who have as yet failed to respond. Could any body advise who is responsible for property insurance during the selling period.

Pont

My understanding is that until contracts have exchanged, the property belongs to the seller and all insurances are their responsibility. This may help:-

http://www.graham-edwards.co.uk/docs/latest_news/EFklpEEuFEHGUcVdmA.shtml

onlyroz

My understanding is that you need to claim for damage to your own property on your own insurance.

jjlandlord

Insurances rarely cover fences, as I understand it.
In addition, here it is an "act of God" with no-one being liable unless you can prove negligence (ie dangerous tree).

I think you would need to send a letter to executor and claim that they are liable because <insert reason, e.g. tree was dangerous, with evidence>. Then see what happens.

I expect that fence damage is not very costly to fix. So if they do not accept liability you will have to balance the effort and expense of going after them without being certain of outcome with likely smallish amount of money at stake.