Asking neighbor to contribute to my excess

Ritchieacrc

The house next door to me is rented out.

Before Christmas there was a burst pipe incident that has caused significant damage to my home 

I am of the opinion it was due to recklessness, the tennant was in the house often at all, I don't believe it had been adequately heated as there had been ice formed on the windows for a few days. The day before the pipe burst, the tennant knew the pipes were frozen but did not resolve the problem.

I'm having to claim my insurance, pay excess and additional water escape charge, plus it doesn't look like the insurance will cover the full cost of the repair.

The lease agreement specifically states the tennant was responsible to keep property warm to prevent pipes freezing.

1. Is it unreasonable to ask the owner of the property to contribute towards my losses (excess and repair) ?


2. My insurance provides legal advice and they suggest I could sue the owner of the property, does anyone have experience of this ?


I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Devongardener

Can you claim on the owner’s insurance rather than you own?  You certainly shouldn’t be out of pocket, it’s their liability.  I would have thought that your insurance company will be peruse them for the rest of your claim.

Ritchieacrc

No unfortunately I couldn't claim off neighbors insurance ...my insurance didn't feel I could provide them with enough evidence to prove the tennant negligent.

[Deleted User]

You can ask, but you might not like the response. If you can't prove negligence you are pretty much stuffed.

Devongardener

Ritchieacrc said:

No unfortunately I couldn't claim off neighbors insurance ...my insurance didn't feel I could provide them with enough evidence to prove the tennant negligent.

I’m confused by this,  why does negligence have to be proved?  

The landlord’s frozen pipes caused significant damage to your property so they are liable, negligent or not.   There’s no law that says heating has to left on if a property is empty, but whatever happens to a property that affects another is that owners liability. 

huckster

Reality in situations like this, is that each homeowner or occupying tenant takes out their own Insurances. And yes they could be subject to a loss because of excesses etc.

No legal actions are going to be taken in reality. 

It is a bit like the situations with blocks of flats, when the occupier of the top flat has a burst pipe and all flats are flooded. All the flat owners below think the top flat occupier or owner is responsible.  But it is then whether a case of legal liability can be established.

TELLIT01

You can ask, but I would be prepared for a negative response.  If they knew of the problems but did nothing to resolve them, I don't see them helping with your costs.

user1977

Devongardener said:

Ritchieacrc said:

No unfortunately I couldn't claim off neighbors insurance ...my insurance didn't feel I could provide them with enough evidence to prove the tennant negligent.

I’m confused by this,  why does negligence have to be proved?  

Because that's how the law works. Under what legal principle would the neighbour be liable if there was no negligence?

(though I'm inclined to believe that not keeping pipes above freezing level probably is negligence - but not necessarily that of the landlord).

[Deleted User]

Devongardener said:

Ritchieacrc said:

No unfortunately I couldn't claim off neighbors insurance ...my insurance didn't feel I could provide them with enough evidence to prove the tennant negligent.

I’m confused by this,  why does negligence have to be proved?  

The landlord’s frozen pipes caused significant damage to your property so they are liable, negligent or not.   There’s no law that says heating has to left on if a property is empty, but whatever happens to a property that affects another is that owners liability. 

If they aren't negligent then it's just an unfortunate accident, and unless they are feeling very generous they are unlikely to give you anything.

Ritchieacrc

The owner isn't going to give me anything, I didn't expect them to but I'd ask.

We still have a legal advisor who thinks I'm within my rights to make a claim given the circumstances. I'm going to pull together all the evidence that I think is relevant and see what happens.

We have photos of frozen windows.
We have an email from the letting agency confirming that the tennant sent a text message to the to the letting agency saying the pipes were frozen the day before the pipe burst and done nothing to try and resolve it.
We have a copy of the let agreement that states the tennant is responsible to keep the house in reasonable condition and states that this includes keeping home warm to prevent pipes bursting , she clearly didn't.


It's not a decision I've taken lightly, but the tennant and owner have been awful throughout the whole incident.

The owner never lives in the property so I don't care if we fall out 

user1977

If it's the tenant who was negligent then you claim against the tenant.