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Hello All,
I'd like a bit of advice on the following situation, if possible.
I live in London where I own a flat in a house with two other flats and all the owners have a share of the freehold. My flat and one other share a communal corridor which allows access to the two flats and is locked with an outer door. For several years I have stored some bikes there, which is not ideal, but it's a common thing in London due to the lack of outdoor space and for the most part nobody ever complained about them.
Last week my family and I were on holiday. The other flat was empty as the tenants had recently moved out. Whilst on holiday the landlord of the other flat (who was also on holiday) messaged me on WhatsApp to tell me that he was starting building works on his flat. He became very angry that the bikes were in the corridor and impeding the builder's work. He also blamed the bikes for his tenants moving out.
He gave the builders a key so they had unsupervised access to the corridor where our bikes were stored and the next day all three bikes (at a value of around £1200) were stolen. There was no break-in, so whoever took them almost certainly had a key.
At 9 AM our cleaner had entered the flat and confirmed the bikes were there. She entered again at 9 PM and the bikes had disappeared. I returned two days later and asked the builders (who were still working there) if they knew where the bikes had gone and they said that the bikes were still there when they left at around 3-4 PM that day.
I asked the landlord of the flat the same question, and he aggressively denied any responsibility and flatly refused to engage in a discussion on the topic. He also bizarrely tried to give himself an alibi by showing me his boarding card to prove he was in France at the time.
In my opinion, the landlord became very angry (he has always been somewhat mentally unhinged) at the presence of the bikes and instructed somebody (maybe the builders) to steal them. I am 99.99% sure this is the case. I called the police, but no direct evidence could be found.
Question:
What is the chance of taking him to the small claims court on the grounds that, without any warning to us and when we were out of the country, he let unsupervised people into our building, who then, by deliberate act or by negligence, caused our bikes to be stolen? He also did this with full knowledge that the bikes were there since we had previously discussed them.
Many thanks.
I'd like a bit of advice on the following situation, if possible.
I live in London where I own a flat in a house with two other flats and all the owners have a share of the freehold. My flat and one other share a communal corridor which allows access to the two flats and is locked with an outer door. For several years I have stored some bikes there, which is not ideal, but it's a common thing in London due to the lack of outdoor space and for the most part nobody ever complained about them.
Last week my family and I were on holiday. The other flat was empty as the tenants had recently moved out. Whilst on holiday the landlord of the other flat (who was also on holiday) messaged me on WhatsApp to tell me that he was starting building works on his flat. He became very angry that the bikes were in the corridor and impeding the builder's work. He also blamed the bikes for his tenants moving out.
He gave the builders a key so they had unsupervised access to the corridor where our bikes were stored and the next day all three bikes (at a value of around £1200) were stolen. There was no break-in, so whoever took them almost certainly had a key.
At 9 AM our cleaner had entered the flat and confirmed the bikes were there. She entered again at 9 PM and the bikes had disappeared. I returned two days later and asked the builders (who were still working there) if they knew where the bikes had gone and they said that the bikes were still there when they left at around 3-4 PM that day.
I asked the landlord of the flat the same question, and he aggressively denied any responsibility and flatly refused to engage in a discussion on the topic. He also bizarrely tried to give himself an alibi by showing me his boarding card to prove he was in France at the time.
In my opinion, the landlord became very angry (he has always been somewhat mentally unhinged) at the presence of the bikes and instructed somebody (maybe the builders) to steal them. I am 99.99% sure this is the case. I called the police, but no direct evidence could be found.
Question:
What is the chance of taking him to the small claims court on the grounds that, without any warning to us and when we were out of the country, he let unsupervised people into our building, who then, by deliberate act or by negligence, caused our bikes to be stolen? He also did this with full knowledge that the bikes were there since we had previously discussed them.
Many thanks.
