Damage to house caused by oak tree roots from council path

subjecttocontract

But the Council were informed of the potential problem by the OP twenty years ago and chose to do nothing. A head in the sand approach for the past 20 years is no defence. 

Annemos

A neighbour in the next street to me had an awful battle with our Council in 2019 re a Street Tree. She was also not covered by insurance, because it was deemed to be pre-existing. 

They battled her all the way about being liable. She took them to Court, because she had done some Law as part of her degree. 

There were several hearings... finally at the end, they settled out of court, took the tree down and paid her a fixed compensation amount which she used towards repairs. 

I suspect Councils who are strapped for cash, will do all they can to avoid paying out?

subjecttocontract

That's why a local Council will mitigate any potential claim by having insurance cover.

Annemos

The thing with it being "reported" 20 years ago. 

The cases say, that there are many trees near properties, but not all of them go on to cause damage. We always end up in that zone of whether it was foreseen or not. Was that report enough 20 years ago? 

It is an awful thing. I understand that years ago, the Councils were held liable if their tree did damage and it was much more clear-cut. (That foreseen thing did not come into play in those days.) 

Section62

subjecttocontract said:

But the Council were informed of the potential problem by the OP twenty years ago and chose to do nothing. A head in the sand approach for the past 20 years is no defence. 

The council were told there was a potential problem, yet the OP's MinL's own SE's report "concluded that there wasn't a serious problem".

Nobody knows whether or not there was a problem with the tree 20 years ago, so "head in the sand" hardly represents the situation accurately.

By the same token, anyone making a claim for damage may need to demonstrate they have done their best to mitigate their loss.  If the MinL knew there was a problem 20 years ago then what have they done in the intervening time?  (I'm not criticising the MinL, just explaining how these processes work)

It is difficult to believe that a tree which was causing a 'not serious' problem 20 years ago has done nothing in terms of damage until quite recently.  We have had several very hot summers over the last 20 years, and a problem - if there is one associated with the tree - would likely have manifested itself long before now.

If councils and other landowners cut down trees every time someone has concerns about proximity to properties then urban areas would be relatively tree-free places by now.

It is also worth noting the problem is apparently with the extension rather than the main house.  This will raise questions when the extension was built, what type of foundations it has, and whether the extension designer took into account the proximity of the tree. This isn't a clear-cut case of the tree owner being 100% at fault.

Also, the OP should bear in mind it is in Saga's interests to show that the problem pre-dates them taking over the insurance of the property.  Finding out that there was a possibly related issue 20 years ago is very useful to the insurer.

Annemos

Yes good points about the Construction. 

Just to add, the big case I noticed where the homeowner had to give up, was won by the Council's Insurance Company. 

It included such remarks as.....

- Councils do not have enough money to address every tree

- If Councils removed every tree near a home, we would be a desert

- Remarks about foundation



Here is that case. 

https://www.zurich.co.uk/news-and-insight/court-success-tree-root-subsidence-claims-importance-evidence#:~:text=The%20outcome%20of%20this%20claim%20shows%20that%20the,than%20a%20possible%20risk%20of%20causing%20subsidence%20damage.


As a homeowner, when subsidence strikes, we automatically assume the Council as the owner of the tree would be liable for the damage. When I had my claim, it was this case that made me think otherwise. 

Dr_Wu

Thanks for all the really helpful replies. Obviously there's no simple, straightforward answer and we need to get more definite information but you given us some really useful leads to follow up. Much appreciated.