Neighbour's Wheelie Bin Damaged my Car

rudekid48

MercOwner wrote: »

They're quite young, so I don't think they'll have much experience with legal matters and hopefully the threat of going to court will make them think it's worth paying. If they ignore it, they ignore it, but I don't think they will somehow.

Nice. So because they're quite young you're going to try to intimidate them into doing something that they are not required to do.

Hopefully you'll receive a 'proper' legal letter in return warning you of the consequences of your attempted bullying and harassment.

What a nasty piece of work.

lisyloo

A couple of things to consider before writing that letter

When you want to sell your house, you'll have to answer questions about any disputes with the neighbours. This can wipe many thousands off the value of your home especially if things esclate and you may not like it but you have been told that what you are doing is illegal so you would in the wrong to write a hassling letter with malicious intent.

Secondly you might in future need the help of your neighbours and this might not be the best way to egt them on side.

Personally I think you're nuts if you think they will roll over and give you £600. They have parents, insurance and access to social media. You'll most likely either get ignored, a response saying "go ahead sue us" or a response saying "we've reported you to the police for harrassment, never darken our doors again".

I sympathise with your posision but if there is any remote chance you're listening then I'd urge you to consider the longer term relationship as you could turn them into neighbours from hell.

Keep_pedalling

You said there were not particularly strong winds, and it takes quite a strong just to shift one even if it is empty, so the wind may not have had anything to do with it, a couple of passing yobs way have thought it would be fun to hurl it at your car.

You must have seen where it was placed and it did not ring alarm bells with you so why should it with them ? Yes I think some people would feel they ought to pay you, but you have a young couple who have just purchased a house and probably don't have any spare money.

For the sake of a few hundred quid you are destroying any chance to have neighbours you are on freindly terms with, something I value very highly. Your car is insured so use the insurance, Any loss of NCD is surely better than legal costs and having people living next door who hate you. Don't write that letter, just apologise for over reacting, you never know when you may require their help in the coming years.

Lily-Rose_3

MercOwner wrote: »

They're quite young, so I don't think they'll have much experience with legal matters and hopefully the threat of going to court will make them think it's worth paying. If they ignore it, they ignore it, but I don't think they will somehow.

Wow, are you for real? I agree with the posters here who are saying that they hope you get a harassment order from the Courts. What an unpleasant individual you sound, as well as a bully. This poor couple: I feel very sorry for them.

When me and my husband were in our late 20s (back in the 1990s,) we moved into a property that had a man of about 55 living alone (his wife had left him 5 years before not surprisingly!) and as soon as we moved in, he came around and said that our front porch impeded on HIS land by 2 inches and that we have to take it down.

We had just moved house because a noisy family moved next to us in the house we had been living happily in for 5 or 6 years. They started screaming, and playing loud music, and had driven us and our baby out, (after telling us they can do what they like in their own house!) Then the first day in the new house, this man came banging on the door, telling us we need to smash our porch down, as it was encroaching onto his land or something. He threatened us with legal action if we didn't remove our porch! When he left our front doorstep, I just burst into tears!

We went back to the solicitor, and told her what he said, and she said the previous owners had put the porch up 5 years ago, and planning permission had been sought, and no neighbour complained. Our solicitor spoke to the previous owner of our house, and they signed a statement to say that the man had not mentioned a THING to them in the five years since they erected the porch.

Our solicitor then wrote a polite but sternly worded letter saying if he doesn't refrain from harassing us, further action will be taken. And when we had the surveyor back, it turned out the porch was NOT on any of his land. He was trying it on; Heaven knows why.

The OP sounds like the same kind of unpleasant bully who thinks because someone is young, they can be pushed around. Wrong. We didn't let it happen, and I sincerely hope this couple don't get bullied by the OP either. They should not give him a BEAN, and I hope the repair costs 5 grand!

undaunted

SeduLOUs wrote: »

Why would a court order them to pay anything at all for an 'accident' that wasn't their fault?

:money:If the Court considers that they were negligent then they may order them to pay for the damages, accident or not. Insurers have to pay out for accidents all the time. Why do you believe that the Court would say that Mercowner or their insurers should pay for something that wasn't his / her fault either?

undaunted

magpiecottage wrote: »

Writing a letter containing a threat with intent to cause distress to the recipient unless to reinforce a demand that you do not have reasonable grounds to believe was a proper means of reinforcing that demand is a criminal offence under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

Therefore, what you propose seems to be an illegal letter!

What?

So the Energy co.s, Council tax & anybody else seeking to recover their debts are all acting illegally according to you? It is not unreasonable to warn a person that you are considering Court action if you believe you have a genuine grievance - as in this case. In fact the Courts expect you to have taken reasonable steps to avoid such action before proceeding to court.

undaunted

Quentin wrote: »

Thing is, undaunted is saying what you want to hear!


Why bother coming for advice and then totally ignoring the wealth of advice given when in fact you just want someone to agree with your (wrong) way of looking at this?





As you have been repeatedly told by numerous posters, suing is going to involve you in unnecessary wasted expense - so what are you going to do when your "legal" letter is ignored?

Have you considered the possibility that we may be right and you wrong?

Quentin

undaunted wrote: »

Have you considered the possibility that we may be right and you wrong?

Yes.


Considered and rejected it.


(Why is the rest of the world out of step with you?)


If the OP gets pumped up by your support it'll end in tears - as they will be wasting all their money on court fees/hearing fees/paying the defendants expenses for attending court

undaunted

rs65 wrote: »

From your link:-
If your own car is struck by an airborne trampoline, bin or roof tiles, a claim against the owner cannot be made unless negligence can be proved which, following a severe storm, is not very likely.

If you have comprehensive cover you should claim through your insurer in the normal way.

It does state that yes. It also says "
Tie it down

While it might not be expected that a garden shed would take to the air, items such as trampolines should either be firmly secured, or better, dismantled for the winter and stored. Similarly, wheelie bins are notorious for taking off in a strong wind, especially when empty: it might be prudent to put them in a garage or at the very least weigh them down with something heavy, such as a few bricks, if strong winds are forecast."

It would be for a Judge to decide whether the occupiers of the property were negligent in not tieing down or moving this bin to an area where it could not damage mercowners car and if high winds were forecast they may indeed be found to have been so.

In their shoes & in the interests of goodwill towards their new neighbour I think I would at the very least have offered him / her 50% of the damages. The chances are that had they done so Mercowner would be feeling less aggrieved and inclined to pursue this. A Judge might be similarly sympathetic to that too.

Quentin

undaunted wrote: »

........Even if he / she is wealthy that does not make them a bully or unentitled to make a reasonable claim for damage caused to their property by a third party.

You look to have missed this where the OP revealed their self as a bully

MercOwner wrote: »

They're quite young, so I don't think they'll have much experience with legal matters and hopefully the threat of going to court will make them think it's worth paying. If they ignore it, they ignore it, but I don't think they will somehow.