Branch of neighbour's tree has fallen onto my Garden shed

MyRealNameToo

Boohoo said:

punchdrunked said:

So I've had a chat with my neighbour. He's in the process of getting quotes from a couple of companies, but I think he's expecting me to share the cost, even though it's his tree. The first quote is £700, which will remove the tree, but nothing about the shed; "it's only resting on it, mate"

My excess is £400, which, if approved, would also cover the shed's broken roof, so I'm torn. My thought process is if he asks me to share the cost, I'd rather go via my insurers and see how I get on - if refused, I'll share the cost with him.

Given that the tree has fallen from his property, I'm expecting that he should fit the bill, but I'm not going to fall out with him over it. 

I am not 100% sure on insurance policies but don't you have to declare if asked about trees over a certain hight being within so many metres of the insured property.

Also not sure if that means the dwelling or the insured land.

I did know a person who's brick garage wasn't paid out because neighbours tree was blown over in a storm onto the garage and as it was tall and only 4 metres from the property boundary.

Each insurer has their own question set, some do ask about trees but it's a minority at this point.  Again the exact question varies, most from my personal experience want to know about trees within X meters of your buildings... were it to be your property instead it would lead to potential confusion on if trees on your property need to be declared or not. The risk with trees tends to be more about subsidence than either them falling or their roots breaking underground pipes. 

Mutton_Geoff

punchdrunked said:

So I've had a chat with my neighbour. He's in the process of getting quotes from a couple of companies, but I think he's expecting me to share the cost, even though it's his tree. The first quote is £700, which will remove the tree, but nothing about the shed; "it's only resting on it, mate"

My excess is £400, which, if approved, would also cover the shed's broken roof, so I'm torn. My thought process is if he asks me to share the cost, I'd rather go via my insurers and see how I get on - if refused, I'll share the cost with him.

Given that the tree has fallen from his property, I'm expecting that he should fit the bill, but I'm not going to fall out with him over it. 

£350 for share of work, £400 for shed repair/replacement. £400 excess.

I wouldn't even contemplate involving insurers. I had a water leak in main incoming underground pipe so called my insurers. They sent someobe to investigate then a guy who dug up the patio, fixed leak, relaid it perfectly. Total cost was £1,300 vs my premiums of £700 a year and my £500 excess so insurer only paid £800.

I asked the insurance company if I could pay myself and cancel the claim but they wouldn't allow this. In the 5 years since, I have paid much more than that in increased premiums but at the time the potential repair costs were unknown.

As mentioned earlier my threshold for claiming is 10x my premium as I know full well anything less will be mostly clawed back in higher premiums.

punchdrunked

All resolved in the end, but I chose not to involve my insurers and replace the shed myself. 

I feel for my neighbour, as it has cost him a lot of money - the tree surgeon company advised him to chop down more trees and tidy up the area, a job he hasn't looked at for nearly 25 years. 

What have I learned from this experience? Use AI to help in drafting a letter to my neighbour. Have a chat, don't argue, and let things work out as they'll do without trying to second-guess what will or won't be said. The forum help has been awesome as well. I particularly liked the 10 x premium threshold.


Thanks.

punchdrunked

I've just been having a word with my poor neighbour. The work is not done yet. Tomorrow the firm are coming back to fell to further large trees. They'll be cordoning off part of the car park as the trees will fall that side of the boundary.

The total cost of all of this work: £17,000 

I feel for the chap, but he's old school; he sees it as his responsibilitiy and accepts that had he been keeping an eye on it, we wouldn't be where we are now. To be fair though, the trees are hollowed out - it's only a matter of time before they fall, so doing it now will save him potential hassle in the future.