whose at fault?

[cuddleMe]

our neighbour came banging on our door this morning saying our roof tile has flown off and landed on his car and made some damaged to it (he has a BMW lol ), he want to claim the damage of our home insurance (if we have that 3rd party policy he was mentining??) we hard really strong winds last night more like a gale force etc... whose at fault? and it blew off one of the top tiles hit one of his lower roof tiles and on to his car. so what do we do???

[Peter Pedant]

Do you like himm or not ? and do you have any common borders with him 0 if yes, pay up

If not - to any or all - say you arent liable because you have not been negligent
and he should claim off his own insurance.

The wind did it, and not your tile, and he would I say, have to show that you werre negligent in some way, in this case by delapidation - allowinng your property to deteriorate

You defence being in the event of a claim, that you are not responsible for the wind and the claim discloses no negligence.

He wont speak to you after that
and you may not wish to have a neighbour from hell.


Good Luck


PP

[Quoi]

Hi Cuddleme - I agree with PP above but I would check to see if you can claim from your insurance first - at the end of the day he has suffered a loss and he could always say to his insurance that it was his tile that damaged his car which it was). Hope you get your tile fixed btw before it rains again.

[tufty7]

Like prevously said, if you want to stay friends with your neighbour , perhaps you could pay his excess so he can claim it off his car insurance?? if you don't much care for them just say no bagger off...lol

[roger2356]

obviously an act of a just god ... now if it was an audi he'd have protected his no claims

[cuddleMe]

hmm thx guys, our neighbour annoys us u know!! we have to fix our roof tile too!!

yes it is obviously in act of god, but do these insurance co. pay up? what if our policy doesnt cover it? he'l need to claim it of his and we just offer to pay the excess?? it is a BMW !! tut!! his own fault!

[TheDr-UK]

Just a thought, and this is being picky I know, but you said that YOUR tile knocked HIS roof tile off and that it was THAT tile that caused the damage, how do you know that your tile knocked his off, if the wind was that high HIS tile could have come off (to get a closer look at the BMW) and yours might just have slid across the roof LATER stopping at the gap already left by his missing tile......... Hey if you don't like the guy and he's being a pain why be nice ?

[cuddleMe]

well he claims our roof tile was on his bonnet, but removed it so we dont know if it was true or not? (our roof tile is bigger than his). well gonna have to phone up insurance co. to check it out... grr soo annoying.

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

Let's start with an analogy. Suppose you slip on a spilt liquid in your local Tesco and break your arm. If you could show that the Tesco staff had known about the spill for several minutes and had failed to clear it up (or at least put a 'wet floor' sign up), you'd be in position to successfully sue Tesco for compensation. In practice, the matter would probably be settled out of court and their insurers would pay you an appropriate sum.

However, if the spill had only happened seconds earlier, and there was nothing that Tesco staff could have done to prevent your accident, you'd have no chance of getting any money out of them or their insurers

The difference is that of negligence. To successfully sue someone, you have to show the person (or company) you're suing was responsible for the the injury (or damage) because they were negligent.

To take a real example (which is a little closer to your own situation), the actor Gordon Kay suffered a horrific head injury when a piece of an advertising hoarding broke off during a gale and smashed through his car windscreen, penetrating his skull. He successfully sued the company who owned the advertising hoarding, forcing their insurers to pay out, because his legal team proved that the hoarding had been allowed to get into a poor state of repair. (i.e. the owners were negligent in failing to recognise the potential danger of the situation).

[Buenchico]

However, if the owners of the advertising hoarding could have shown that it was in good condition and that they could not reasonably have expected it to break up in high winds, Gordon Kay would have lost the legal battle.

The reason that many household insurance policies include 'third party liability' cover is to pay out when you could be sued for negligence. For your neighbour to successfully sue you, he'd have to show that you'd been negligent in failing to keep your roof in good repair. It's unlikely that he'd be able to do so.

There's no legal obligation upon you to pass your insurance details to your neighbour. If he wants to make a claim, he'll have to put it in writing and make it against you. If he does so, you could just tell him to 'get lost' and wait to see if he pursues the matter through the courts. However, it would be wisest to notify your insurers so that you don't later find that you're 'out of time' to make a claim. Any notification to your insurers should include the phrase 'I do not accept liability for this accident as there has been no negligence on my part'.

Chris

[cuddleMe]

thnks for that Chris, i dont think its going to get really bad such as sueing us etc but u never know these things. but our house is only 4yrs old!! i HATE the WIND. :)

[Postdog]

Can't quite understand this post, or rather, why the fuss. As wind caused it, it was an act of God. You say that ultimately it was HIS tile that did the damage, so he should claim on his house or car insurance. Even if it was your tile, car damage he should claim on his car insurance not your house insurance.. Check with your insurers by all means, but I can't see how you are actually liable

[themas]

The answer is simple. Contact your insurer and follow their advice. If your neighbour isn't happy with that, then suggest his insurer liaises with yours.