Damage from neighbours chimney

the_mitchells

I’ve reposted this as I wasn’t sure I posted it in the correct place?!?

My neighbours chimney fell down in a storm last year...the chimney pot stayed whole and punctured straight through the roof of my 1979 VW Campervan...writing the roof off, smashing all the windows and damaging the bodywork...the bricks and roof tiles also scratched the side of my car...his house insurance has repaired his chimney and fixed his cars...but won’t touch my camper saying ‘if they knew the chimney would fall it would have been covered but as they didn’t it isn’t’ the camper insurance won’t cover it as my ex husband told the insurance on renewal that it was stored in a garage overnight but as we were doing some work on her she was on my driveway...so now I’m left with a campervan that’s worth about 1p and repair costs to my car as it would go down as a fault claim on my insurance if I claim I was just asleep in bed at the time it all feels slightly unfair...his chimney feel down because it hadn’t been maintained and had a crack in it...any advice would be more than welcome as I have no idea who to talk to regarding this tia x

ST1991

'if they knew the chimney would fall it would be covered'? what a bizarre thing for them to say....
If they covered the car damage i have no idea why they wouldn't cover the van damage too. Do you have legal cost/cover as part of your van/home insurance...?

I don't think the van being on the driveway is a huge issue (imo) for the simple argument of - what would happen if it was parked away from home one night whilst you were staying with family... Car insurance obviously must account for that and you wouldn't be automatically not covered because it was left in a different place on 'one' occasion (surely??).
If you stayed over at a friends house one night and parked it outside of their house and it was broken into, would they not cover that...?

the_mitchells

ST1991 wrote: »

'if they knew the chimney would fall it would be covered'? what a bizarre thing for them to say....
If they covered the car damage i have no idea why they wouldn't cover the van damage too. Do you have legal cost/cover as part of your van/home insurance...?

I don't think the van being on the driveway is a huge issue (imo) for the simple argument of - what would happen if it was parked away from home one night whilst you were staying with family... Car insurance obviously must account for that and you wouldn't be automatically not covered because it was left in a different place on 'one' occasion (surely??).
If you stayed over at a friends house one night and parked it outside of their house and it was broken into, would they not cover that...?

This is my frustration out of his buildings insurance (Aviva) and my bus insurance no one wants to fix her and she’s left broken through no fault of mine...would you have any idea who I could seek advice from I don’t really know x

grumbler

I think your insurer must pay and then claim money from your neighbour's insurer.
Follow their formal complaints procedure, then take the case to the FCA if needed.

molerat

Neighbour is correct. Storms happen, if it was not down to his negligence then it is up to your insurance to cover the cost, the fact you did not have adequate cover in place is not his fault. If you can prove his negligence then sue him for the damage. Have your insurance refused to pay ?

the_mitchells

We’ve both lived in the property since 2000 and he’s never had any maintenance work done on the chimney so I would think that’s negligence possibly?!? The bus insurance was fully comp but they used the excuse it was parked on the drive and not in the garage as my ex husband had stated on renewal as we were completing some work on her they said it voided off the insurance I’m trying to find out what the time frame is for night time with them on the policy as it happened in the morning I’m just feeling a little frustrated for going to bed that night I was woken up to both my vehicles damaged and I’ll end up being financially worse off having to make a claim on both insurances thank you for your reply

Davesnave

It was decided that the chimney falling was an 'Act of God;' in other words it's God's fault; and as you can't sue Him, and he's not insured anyway, the repairs must be done via your own insurance.

What the insurers mean when they speak about 'knowing it might fall' is that God gets off the hook, and so do you, if the owner of the chimney is warned that it's dangerous and doesn't act in time.

In other words, if you'd written to your neighbour, keeping a copy, saying: "Your chimney looks to be in a perilous state. Please get it looked at immediately." you'd be covered by their insurance.....but then if you'd thought that, you'd not have parked where you did!

Not having the chimney pointed in the last 20 years isn't necessarily negligence. You'd be clutching at straws there.

Mistral001

the_mitchells wrote: »

I’ve reposted this as I wasn’t sure I posted it in the correct place?!?

My neighbours chimney fell down in a storm last year...the chimney pot stayed whole and punctured straight through the roof of my 1979 VW Campervan...writing the roof off, smashing all the windows and damaging the bodywork...the bricks and roof tiles also scratched the side of my car...his house insurance has repaired his chimney and fixed his cars...but won’t touch my camper saying ‘if they knew the chimney would fall it would have been covered but as they didn’t it isn’t’ the camper insurance won’t cover it as my ex husband told the insurance on renewal that it was stored in a garage overnight but as we were doing some work on her she was on my driveway...so now I’m left with a campervan that’s worth about 1p and repair costs to my car as it would go down as a fault claim on my insurance if I claim I was just asleep in bed at the time it all feels slightly unfair...his chimney feel down because it hadn’t been maintained and had a crack in it...any advice would be more than welcome as I have no idea who to talk to regarding this tia x

It looks like this chimney pot had a bit of an adventure. It smashed through a steel roof then turned and then smashed each window in turn.

Maybe the insurance company just do not believe your account.

BTW a 1979 VW camper van will be worth about £15,000. One damaged by a chimney pot which did not have magical powers would probably be worth over £10,000.

Ectophile

Mistral001 wrote: »

It looks like this chimney pot had a bit of an adventure. It smashed through a steel roof then turned and then smashed each window in turn.

Maybe the insurance company just do not believe your account.

BTW a 1979 VW camper van will be worth about £15,000. One damaged by a chimney pot which did not have magical powers would probably be worth over £10,000.

If you squashed the roof of a van, it wouldn't be surprising if the windows smashed as well. That doesn't require any magic levitating chimney pot.

the_mitchells

Wow thanks for you reply 🙄
The roof on the campervan is Fibreglass...the chimney fell and punctured the roof staying in tact...we actually found it sitting on a seat in the bus...it’s was incredibly big heavy and solid...the force of it driving through the roof is what smashed the windows not the pot itself...
I’d love to know where I could sell a damaged bus and have someone pay me £10,000 I’d happily do that then have all this hassle...baring in mind a new roof would be approx £3,000 alone...
I have photos taken by the firemen and myself on the morning it happened if you think someone would be crazy enough to make something like that up...who would have the energy...

Mistral001

the_mitchells wrote: »

Wow thanks for you reply 🙄
The roof on the campervan is Fibreglass...the chimney fell and punctured the roof staying in tact...we actually found it sitting on a seat in the bus...it’s was incredibly big heavy and solid...the force of it driving through the roof is what smashed the windows not the pot itself...
I’d love to know where I could sell a damaged bus and have someone pay me £10,000 I’d happily do that then have all this hassle...baring in mind a new roof would be approx £3,000 alone...
I have photos taken by the firemen and myself on the morning it happened if you think someone would be crazy enough to make something like that up...who would have the energy...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/motorhome-search?sort=datedesc&radius=1500&make=VOLKSWAGEN&price-from=500&year-from=1970&year-to=1980
http://www.campervanauctions.co.uk/
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/cat/22/43/