Andrew Dixon

As the title says, in the wee small hours of Saturday morning a few of my neighbour's roof tiles were blown off onto my, and my friends' cars. Damage to mine is fairly superficial (3" dent and accompanying scratch on the bonnet), however my friends' car has more substantial dents in the roof and tailgate.

Thanks to my £250 excess, it isn't worth pursuing a claim on my car insurance to repair the bonnet. It was suggested that I could make a claim against my neighbour's home insurance policy, but I've since been told that I would only be able to make a claim if I could prove negligence on his part.

Has anyone had any experience of this sort of matter and offer any advice? Thanks in advance!

Andrew.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I would claim off of their home insurance, that's what it's there for!

davegtt

you shouldnt need to prove negligence on his part, its more so something from his property damaged your. it was an accident and thats what home insurance is for. use it

Andrew Dixon

Would seem to make sense, but having spoken briefly to my insurer on the feasability of doing this, they said that they would dismiss it as an "act of God" and discharge themselves of liability - hence having to prove negligence on the part of my neighbour ... Still going to pursue it by contacting by neighbour's insurer though to make sure.

Just wondered if anyone had had any direct experience of this.

Dracoro

Can't the 'negligence' be the fact that the tiles weren't fastened down well enough?

Anyway, I thought insurance DID cover acts of 'god' (Try proving THAT in court ) hence trees falling into houses/cars, storm damage etc.

davegtt

anyone watched "the man who sued god"?

David Lock

Have you asked your neighbour if he will pay for the damage?

Freak

when tiles came off our roof on to my car roof (just the sunroof thnk god) home insurance said they would pay.
Was easier just to get it done myself in the end at mates rates

Andrew Dixon

Possibly, although this would be difficult to prove. And I imagine I'd also have to prove that he knew them to be badly fastened down in order to prove negligence.


No, and I don't think I would either. However, if there's a chance of making a claim through his insurance I will pursue that.


Sounds promising ...

Cheers.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Surely it's an issue of poor maintanence on the property?

If houses next door didn't loose tiles, then that could be used to back up the claim.

Harry_Boy

Don't believe that there is need to prove negligence on your neighbour's part. AFAIR this would be a matter of strict liability - ie. it happened, damage was caused and there was a direct causal link between the two.

Something to do with case law extensions to the Rylands v Fletcher rule....

CupraT

My neighbours house insurance certainly covers this as I claimed on it

I checked my policy also at the start of the recent bad weather and states it covers damage to the roof as a result of storms. I rang to ask if it covered 3rd party damage as a result of falling slates and they said it did.

Andrew Dixon

Cool. Here's hoping my neighbours's policy covers 3rd party liabilities then!

Thanks again.