Neighbour damaged my garage roof - Small Claims Court?

Squidd52

casper_gutman said:

Wow, you were being very reasonable to offer that. Not sure I'd have been as nice!

I suppose you could look at it as the roof needed doing anyway, so the difference between your roofer's 'fix it' proposal and the neighbour's guy's price is 'only' £300.

If you can easily afford it then I suppose you could possibly take the view that it's worth writing off that amount for the sake of a good relationship with your neighbour?

Just can't be bothered with the hassle now, I can't easily afford it as it will take a large chunk of my savings but to just move on and get it over with it's something I'm willing to do.

Section62

Squidd52 said:

casper_gutman said:

Wow, you were being very reasonable to offer that. Not sure I'd have been as nice!

I suppose you could look at it as the roof needed doing anyway, so the difference between your roofer's 'fix it' proposal and the neighbour's guy's price is 'only' £300.

If you can easily afford it then I suppose you could possibly take the view that it's worth writing off that amount for the sake of a good relationship with your neighbour?

Just can't be bothered with the hassle now, I can't easily afford it as it will take a large chunk of my savings but to just move on and get it over with it's something I'm willing to do.

Bear in mind what I said about needing his permission if your roof work will be on his side of the boundary.  If he acts like that in a discussion about costs he could cause aggro over ownership of the wall and whether you can build 'your' roof over his land.

Boohoo

Section62 said:

Squidd52 said:

casper_gutman said:

Wow, you were being very reasonable to offer that. Not sure I'd have been as nice!

I suppose you could look at it as the roof needed doing anyway, so the difference between your roofer's 'fix it' proposal and the neighbour's guy's price is 'only' £300.

If you can easily afford it then I suppose you could possibly take the view that it's worth writing off that amount for the sake of a good relationship with your neighbour?

Just can't be bothered with the hassle now, I can't easily afford it as it will take a large chunk of my savings but to just move on and get it over with it's something I'm willing to do.

Bear in mind what I said about needing his permission if your roof work will be on his side of the boundary.  If he acts like that in a discussion about costs he could cause aggro over ownership of the wall and whether you can build 'your' roof over his land.

Also if as you have said that he uses the space where the garage used to be as a parking bay for a vehicle if/when you do the roof repairs you will need the vehicle moved to gain access to exposed parts of the garage roof.

You could climb on the roof and lean over and do it but you may drop something on the vehicle by accident(oh dear) and that could lead to more issues with the neighbours.

If you don't need/use the garage you could also knock it down but that maybe a bit extreme.

WIAWSNB

Your call, Squidd.

If you'd had LegProt, you'd have the guy over a barrel. You would almost certainly have him cover the full cost of making good the damage to your roof, and protecting the wall. 

Without that, it's up to you to chase.

You sound a chilled fellow, rare on this planet. I think he should at least hand over the £150, just to teach him the tinniest of lessons. 

Squidd52

Ball is in his court now as he threatened the Police the second time I knocked on his door to straighten things out and put my proposition to him.

HedgehogRulez

How would threatening the police help? 

WIAWSNB

Squidd52 said:

Ball is in his court now as he threatened the Police the second time I knocked on his door to straighten things out and put my proposition to him.

Hmm, sympathy for the guy disappearing completely.
Don't worry about that - two attempts at discussing this ain't harassment, and the police would soon put him straight on how to properly handle it. 
But, you do want a proper paper trail if you are going to pursue this, so little point in continuing to knock on his door. (But if you do again, have your phone surreptitiously recording.)
Depends now what you want to do. If it's to get him to cough up the full amount for a repair - perfectly reasonable - then you'll need more than one alternative quote, and they should have enough detail to explain the work required. 
You send that to him with a 'letter before action' explaining that you will not allow his guy to fix it as he's already demonstrated his incompetence and lack of care. Give him 2 weeks - a fixed date - or else you'll get the work done and sue. 
Not sure what you can do if you are planning to replace your whole roof. 
That's the gist. And he's a git.