House for sale sign causing damage to car - who is liable?

wazza

i was parked in front of my neighbour's property. The house is for sale. Estate agent have attached a for sale sign on a wooden post by the front gate.

When I looked outside the bedroom window this morning I saw the for sale sign swaying window in the strong wind. Was wondering if the fixings broke and it landed on the car who will be liable? The homeowner or the estate agent?

Spicy_McHaggis

wazza wrote: »

i was parked in front of my neighbour's property. The house is for sale. Estate agent have attached a for sale sign on a wooden post by the front gate.

When I looked outside the bedroom window this morning I saw the for sale sign swaying window in the strong wind. Was wondering if the fixings broke and it landed on the car who will be liable? The homeowner or the estate agent?

Who have you reported it to?

If neither are aware neither are liable.

enfield_freddy

A wise person , would move his car , or buy the house.


during the winds last year , a dustbin was blown at my car , itt had 37 on it , are they responsible ? or is it an act of "imm up there"

stator

If they acted negligently then they would be liable. "They" is probably a local firm who put up the signs working on behalf of the estate agents. Notify them that the sign is insufficiently secured and you would have a good case if they fail to act and it does damage your car.

wazza

Luckily the sign did not fall down. Was just wondering what if it did.

If I knew the winds were going to be strong I would park elsewhere.

Car_54

The neighbour is responsible for his property and things that fall off it: the estate agent is simply his agent.

In principle, you should sue the neighbour in the first instance. His insurance should cover it and no doubt they'd pursue the estate agent in turn.

But it would probably be more practical to contact the estate agent first.

chrisw

Car_54 wrote: »

The neighbour is responsible for his property and things that fall off it: the estate agent is his agent.

You sue the neighbour in the first instance. His insurance should cover it and no doubt they'd pursue the estae agent in turn.

No they won't. A piece of my greenhouse has blown out and damaged the neighbour's car. My insurance won't pay out as they say I'm not liable because I wasn't negligent. He will have to claim off his car insurance but will have no chance of recovering the cost from me as it was an act of nature.

I feel a bit guilty about it but that's what it is. I've not told him yet.

InsideInsurance

To claim off anyone you would have to prove that they were negligent which is defined as doing something a reasonable person wouldnt do or failing to do something a reasonable person would do. Until you get into real professionals then a "reasonable person" is the man on the street rather than engineers or PhD physicists etc.

So first of all, did the estate agent decide to attach it to the post or did the neighbour instruct them to attack it there? Was there any sign that the post wasnt suitable for it to be attached to (ie is it rotten to hell or made of 2mm balsa wood)? Assuming the average person would think the post is fairly secure then were the attachments appropriate for the job? etc etc

The final point, you having now seen that its not secure, have you informed the neighbour or the estate agent and if so, have they had reasonable opportunity to arrange for it to be fixed/removed?

A claim can only be made if someone has been negligent and if no one has been, as is often the case in theses types of incident, then it is purely an accident (or "act of God" if you prefer). Depending on the amount of damage to your vehicle then you could either pay it yourself or claim off your insurance but the later would be a fault claim.

Of course what a person or a company may do as a guesture of goodwill is totally separate to what they are legally obliged to do but insurance only covers legal obligations not goodwill

AdrianC

If you've noticed the sign has come loose in the current winds, and is in danger of damaging property, the right thing to do would be to either tell the householder or remove the sign and put it somewhere safe.

Hintza

Car_54 wrote: »

The neighbour is responsible for his property and things that fall off it: the estate agent is simply his agent.

Do you think so? Without any negligence?

agrinnall

wazza wrote: »

Luckily the sign did not fall down. Was just wondering what if it did.

If I knew the winds were going to be strong I would park elsewhere.

If the sign hasn't fallen off in the recent winds then I think it could be argued that it was attached well enough, unlike this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32130848

(and to be honest even that may have been securely attached, just that the wind strength was unexpectedly high).