Trespass and damage from contractors on next door property

[osgd]

Work was undertaken on next doors property, which is a council property. Damage was done to my roof and guttering, water ingress thereafter. Guttering displaced and pointing issues now. They erected scaffolding in our garden, and the contractors have done some damage to our property, which is a private property. Where do we stand regarding getting said contractors to either repair or pay for repairs?

[efpom]

Your claim is against the local authority that owns next door.

[osgd]

Many thanks for the swift reply.

We have written previously to the owner of the property who passed the claim onto their insurers..

At that point, It then becomes more convoluted as the owner's insurers then passed the alleged claim onto the first contractor, then it was passed to their insurers who in turn passed it to the second subcontractor who then passed it to their insurance..

Three insurers, two subcontractors, and one owner.

Can you advise whether the offer of mediation to the owner would be the best option now to progress? Likewise, would the courts look at that as the most profitable way to avoid costs and deal with it before issuing a small claim?

Thanks'

[efpom]

The problem you have is that everyone is hiding behind each other i.e, to use an Americanism "passing the buck". Mediation in those circumstances is nigh on impossible.

My advice would be to issue the claim against the owner, and then negotiate a settlement to avoid the matter going to trial. You indicate small claims track, so i assume the compensation you seek, is for less than 10K [don't forget distress and inconvenience!]

[osgd]

Wow! you are amazing thank you for the quick reply. Our quotes came in just over 9k for damage. We never thought about the time compiling the evidence, inconvenience, and stress. I think we would be willing to negotiate just to put this to bed and get the work done. Factor in the delays we hear reference court listings, With the weather so cold we would sooner prefer to end this drama and make the property watertight.

Would you recommend anyone or consider undertaking to issue a claim on our behalf? I am in poor health, 60 years ex-military veteran and retired lecturer, and my wife ex NHS my carer now. My meta-cognition is inhibited most days by brain fog and the side effects of pain meds. If you could kindly please advise on links on the forum that could assist maybe? Would be open to any advice. Never used this forum before so yes very much a newbie and need some reassurance. Do matters tend to settle before trial, trying to minimise exacerbating stress levels?

[islandgirl]

I hope you get some detailed info but the way forward I believe is to issue a Letter Before Action to the owner of the property (the council?) - I would send to their legal dept, address available online. Explain what has happened and that unless £ x is not paid to you before a certain date (give them say 14 days) you will proceed to court without further notice. Head the letter Letter Before Action. This may be enough. Or it may not.. in which case it is time for Moneyclaim online (your problems are of course noted and hopefully you can get some help with that)

[osgd]

Islandgirl

[osgd]

Sorry IslandGirl, on mobile now, fingers everywhere. Thank you so much, note your reply and thank you to the other contributers . Really great bunch!

[islandgirl]

No problem!

Looking back at your issue I think the letter before action is the second step

In your shoes my first step would be getting 2 or preferably 3 quotes for the cost of fixing all the issues from reputable companies. You cannot just pick a figure out of thin air which you think it will cost unfortunately - you will need to back it up. Once you have a figure write to them saying you want that amount by a certain date and detail the quotations. Alternatively you want the contractors to fix it by a certain date. Warn them that if you do not receive the payment or the problem is not fixed you will take legal action against them

Then, if they do not pay or have it fixed then send the letter before action. It is likely they will say again that it is not their problem but I think most of us here believe it is!

Remember you must keep any claim under 10k. You could send to the council legal services by "signed for" delivery as they are likely to accept but I would also post from a postoffice with a free certificate of postage and normal stamp...

[efpom]

You have a duty to mitigate your loss, and practically, you will need to get the damage repaired. If you have insurance on your property, you may wish to claim on that insurance for the direct cost of repairing. That would leave you with a residual claim against the owner for a) insurance excess b) cost of the increase in premiums for the next 5 years and c) distress and inconvenience.

If you are a litigant in person you can claim your costs in preparing the claim at £19 per hour – but you won’t get your costs* if the claim is allocated to the small claims track unless you prove that the defendant behaved unreasonably - which is quite difficult.

*Solicitor costs would be £3 to 6k

You may get help and advice from one of the many veteran charities.

I would say that it is unlikely that the claim will settle before trial as your opponent is a local authority, where the cost of litigation is funded by taxation, whereas a private business is driven by commercial reality.

[osgd]

Thank you ever so much for your experience in these matters. We will follow to the letter everything you've kindly detailed for us. I will post again to let you know the outcome. I envisage a number of months but nevertheless. Thank you so much once again

[osgd]

Dear EFPOM

Thank you for your detailed reply and advice. Just to confirm it is a housing association property with charity status. Would that change any of the information above. The work was completed back end of 2018. We spent best part of over 2 yrs being ping ponged back and forth and we lost 2yrs due to covid. Is there a time limit on these types of claims. Thank you so much for your help and advice.

[osgd]

Sorry to everyone, we have corrected from council to charity housing association. Apologies for the confusion we created, at the beginning of the thread.

[atticus]

The limitation period is that any court claim must be issued at court within 6 years of the date on which the damage occurred. If this was 2018, then the limitation period will be drawing to a close.

[osgd]

November 2018 work completed. So best get cracking. Thank you for your post.