Neighbor backed into brick wall breaking it

darkwarrior

Hi, I'm in need of some advice as I don't know how to proceed in this situation as we've never had a neighbor cause damage to our property and obviously I want to keep this amicable as this has been our neighbor since I was born.

I came home to find like 1/4 of my wall hanging out onto the pavement at an angle. I thought maybe the bin men had done it but when I approached the nextdoor neighbor he said he had done it, due to a bus on te opposite side of the road and an oncoming car, he claims he became distracted and ended up reversing onto our drive thinking it was his, which is much wider.

He's struck the wall and completely separated it off on this end. Throughout the conversation though I got the impression he was trying to pass the blame. He made no mention of just putting his hands up and rectifying the situation so I had to make sure that I mentioned it.

He noted that the damage to his car was minimal cosmetic damage. As far as I understand since he wasn't driving 30mph into a brick wall the damage will be minimal, he's gently touched the wall and then the wall or the car stopped and it wasn't the car.

Then he noted that the vines growing over the wall have damaged it. Probably true, it was still a complete and solid wall before being struck and its stood for 25+ years.

Then he noted that the gate that was attached like...18 years ago was pulling at the wall as well.

Basically I got the impression he was implying the wall was already broken and he just nudged it so it didn't cause his car any damage.

I found it hard to address this without turning it hostile but I did maintain that it was still a solid wall and not a jumble of reassembled bricks that it is now, with one skim entirely missing at the back.

And my thought is that even if the wall was broken (which it wasn't, that wall was solid as shown when we tried to move it back into place because it is damn heavy), if it had been a kid he would still be at fault.

What would be the best way to address this situation? Should I just order quotes and give them to him? I've never had to deal with this before and i'm trapped between anger and wanting to avoid creating a permanently hostile situation.

Doozergirl

It's a car insurance job. He can choose whether he wants to pay directly, I guess, but it might be easier for you to claim from his insurer.

It doesn't matter what the condition of your wall was beforehand.

Someone crashed into my SIL's wall in the middle of the night. It's a listed building. While they worked out what to do, the insurers had to fund traffic lights to take the road to one lane because of the risk (it was already leaning) and a traffic management guy to watch them! Went on for weeks and must have cost a fortune!

Sicard

As above. But I can't believe there was no damage to his car.

fezster

As said. Take as many pictures as you can. Esp of any damage to his car, in case he tries to deny it was him. I'm afraid you're just going to have to ask him straight out whether he'll be paying or if he wants to go through insurance.

If you know his insurance company, contact them directly. Otherwise, inform your home insurance and let them deal with it for you.

Quentin

You can find out who is car insurer is via askmid (foc if you use a smartphone, otherwise £4)

AnnieO1234

Get a quote for the wall. See what the damage really is.

There's two things that strike me. The first is that your neighbour probably won't want an at fault claim on their car insurance. The second is you both don't want a dispute when it comes to selling your homes.

Your neighbour is obviously going to argue that if you had kept the wall in better repair (without a gate and ivy pulling at it) then there would have been no damage from a small impact. You obviously don't believe this. The insurers may or may not believe it.

Your other option is to get the work done and then sue him, make a claim for the work via the small claims court. But again that will end up as a declarable dispute on sale.

Some things aren't worth it, as frustrating as it might be, sometimes it's easier, less stress and less problematic to simply suck it up and deal with it.

Xxx

Mojisola

darkwarrior wrote: »

He's struck the wall and completely separated it off on this end.

Throughout the conversation though I got the impression he was trying to pass the blame.

Then he noted that the vines growing over the wall have damaged it. Probably true, it was still a complete and solid wall before being struck and its stood for 25+ years.

Then he noted that the gate that was attached like...18 years ago was pulling at the wall as well.

The wall was standing before he drove into it; his actions resulted in it falling down.

I wouldn't be willing to accept anything other than him or his insurance company paying for a full reinstatement.

darkwarrior

Thanks. There was damage to his car but it seemed to be largely cosmetic, paint scratched away on the passenger side wheel arch. So I'd guess he made impact quite slow and then before he has realised, the continued force has pushed the wall over. Rather than it being a sudden and hard impact, which is why he seems tobe trying to push an angle that he hit it like a pillow.

Nilrem

Mojisola wrote: »

The wall was standing before he drove into it; his actions resulted in it falling down.

I wouldn't be willing to accept anything other than him or his insurance company paying for a full reinstatement.

Pretty much it.

The damage to the car might appear minor, but that may just be the visible damage from the contact point (especially if on a rear bumper), there are fairly regular posts in motors about rear end collisions that appear to just scuff the bumper of the car, but resulting in a lot of hidden damage.

It doesn't take a lot to damage a single brick course wall, especially if it's a sharp impact in a single spot, from say a car hitting it whilst reversing.

It's one of the reasons structeral walls tend to be built thicker or multiple courses tied together, and taller brick walls often have a thicker sections for additional strength every few feet.