Claim Advise

Currently reading:
Claim Advise

black_cinq

Away with the fairies
Joined
May 4, 2004
Messages
8,137
Points
945
Location
United Kingdom
Claim Advice

Bit of a 'what would you do' question.

In the wind storms November last year a roof tile fell off the roof and onto my bonnet. Tried claiming directly off the landlord who was having none of it, everytime I wrote to him he wrote back giving a different excuse as to why he didnt have to pay.

I moved out in January (after a nightmare tenancy) and decided to ask my insurance to claim off his insurance for the damage - got quotes/ pictures of roof sent to them. My insurance said there was no point claiming as they probably wouldnt pay out but I was so annoyed about the whole thing I asked them to try.

Now I'm still waiting for something to happen and I've been driving around a car with a huge dent and scrapes down the bonnet and a scraped windscreen and I'm starting to get annoyed, I just want it to be repaired.

I can get it filled and resprayed for £180 but I cant claim through the insurance for the windscreen as its not bad enough. I would have to wait until its cracked too badly to repair or whatever.

So my option is to carry on waiting and driving around in a car that looks terrible or just pay the £180 to get the bonnet repaired and live with the windscreen.

Does anyone have any idea of how long these things take or has anyone been successful claiming in this kind of situation? I'll be even more annoyed if I'm not successful and I've put up with it for this long, it's holding me up getting other work done to the car.


Oh and FYI claiming off my own insurance then trying to recoup the cost from his insurance is NOT an option as I cant risk him not paying out. The insurance was difficult enough to get in the first place with my measly one years no claims, without it I wouldnt be able to get insurance at all. (90% of companies wanted a minimum of 2 yrs no claims or to be over 25 - which I'm not!).
 
Last edited:
Yeah thats what I was going to do when it first happened BUT they made some special cadbury purple ones with grey Recaro bucket seats and mines one of those :rolleyes: I'm not saying its impossible and might be worth me looking into it again.

Why didnt I just get black??:bang:
 
Do you think I should drop the claim through the insurance then and persue him directly through small claims? Ultimately is he actually responsible for the damage to my car?

I spoke to the insurance last week and they hadnt even been able to establish who the buildings insurance was with to start a claim :(

The claim I'm trying to persue is for £650, do I write to him one last time and say if he doesn't pay I will take him to small claims following up with the paperwork if he doesn't get back to me within X number of days?
 
For a start try not to go near your insurance!
There is some little things they don't tell you,
1 If you put in a claim against him they wont follow through they are crap and don't want to fight out of a wet paper bag! and normally give up at the first hurdle,
2 Whilst you put a claim in it's still classed as a claim (innocent til proven guilty) they hold your no claims (freeze them) until it's sorted no matter how long it takes! So if you try to renew or get new insurance it's a pending claim.
This happened to my friend, but i suppose all insurance companies are different.

Get the work done then you have a bill to hand to the landlord, with a cover letter explaining you will be taking legal action if not paid.
Then the next option is to try citizens advise and see what they say,
Then take it through small claims court and hope he settles.

If all that fails go see your ex landlord and cry,
your female it works every time
smiley-laughing010.gif
 
Last edited:
He might not even have insurance, won't legally need to have building insurance (but stupid not to) not sure what sort of cover he has to have (again if any) to cover him should the building injure a tenant (roof caving in etc) but not sure if it'd be covere by that.

I'd write to him, stating the facts, and that if the issue isn't swiftly resolved in 15 working days (3weeks) that you will file claims to proceed with recovery of damage costs through small claims court. See what their reaction is.
 
Thanks for your advise guys. I have written a letter to him that I will post tomorrow. I thought you had to have buildings insurance if you had a mortgage? Its a buy to let so I believe he HAS to have buildings insurance? He's said to me previously that he's spoken to his insurance and he's not liable for it - he could have been lying though?

I really didnt want to even mention it to my insurance - because I know if it goes on my file I might as well kiss goodbye to having a nice car. I'm just furious over the whole thing, I had an absolute nightmare with the landlord over him not repairing things in the house (we had no heating and a flooded kitchen which he refused to do anything about) so I really dont want him to get away with ruining my car too :( Maybe if i'd have had a better experience with him I would be more likely to accept these things happen and move on!!

I cant get the work done and send him a bill because if I have to pay I will live with the windscreen until the insurance will replace and get someone to fill and respray the bonnet cheaply. Whereas if he's paying I want a new bonnet and windscreen. I have two quotes for the work one from Audi and also an independant garage along with pictures of my car and his roof which i'm sending with the letter. Still now, 5 months after he was notified this tile had come off its STILL missing from the roof and I'm sure the new tenants still have a leaking roof, no heating and a flooded kitchen!!
 
Last edited:
Landlords are not legally required to have any house insurance at all.
And as for mortgaged properties it may have a clause in the paper work that requires it.
But they would be very stupid to not have it.
The only legal requirements are a gas safety and electrical safety certificate done every twelve months.
 
Last edited:
OP, why not ring round and see if you can get one of these "no win, no fee" dealies.
Give them all the facts and see what they say

Is this similar to doing small claims?

I have sent him a letter - recorded delivery - on the 10th giving him until the 7th April to return a cheque or I will file papers with the small claims court.

I have no experience of these no win no fee things and very sceptical of them. Could I be better off (ie have more chance of winning) through one of these companies. All I want is the £650 to get my car repaired, I'm not trying to get as much money as possible or anything. I just want it back to the perfect condition it was in 5 months ago :(

Would there be any problem legally if I did a no win no fee after I said I would take him to the small claims? Would he have to be given another 28 days to pay after the threat of no win no fee?

Does any one have any experience of small claims or no win no fee? Time scales etc?

I am SO close to just saying **** it, I'll just get it repaired. But I have another 8 weeks or so until I will be using my car a lot (summer :cool:) so I'm praying that something will be sorted out in this time frame.


In reply to some of the other questions:
Mortgaged properties will be required to have building insurance. If you own the property outright its up to you.
Gas Safety Checks are required annually.
Electrical Safety Checks are not required by law. Landlords must ensure electrics are safe at the start of the tenancy and maintained during the tenancy.
 
The difference between NWNF solicitors and you doing small claims is that people will often react more to a solicitor's letter.
It's really easy for someone to threaten small claims & often people don't bother because they CBA to fill in the paperwork, so the person you want money from simply ignores you - then ignores the small claims court - and you will have to spend more money chasing him.
On the other hand, the NWNF guys send out a letter and once they have their teeth into something, they have the wherewithall to see it through. They know this guy isn't going to be a dead end because he has a house to let - so he has money.
I've never used NWNF solicitors but I have used the small claims - and ended up even more out of pocket than before.
 
I've used small claims a few times in the past.
One firm went bust between me thretening them and serving the papers.
Another firm just laughed & told me to give it my best shot, they claimed hardship (small one-man garage) and offered £5 per week - which they never paid.

There was another instance where I was going to go down that route but decided against it after having a thought about my previous experiences.
In both cases, I lost the money for goods plus money to pay for the small claims.

I am assuming that NWNF solicitors are like the rest of the sharks in that profession - once they latch on, they won't let go.
I am also assuming that they will only take on your case if they are 100% certain they can win - and they also have the financial wherewithall to make this guy's life miserable if he ignores them.

For you, it has to be win/win. If they say they will take on the case, i reckon it's because they know they can win, If they won't take on the case, it's a good sign that you should not pursue through small claims.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for your help. I am waiting on a response from the landlord to my most recent letter. If I dont get one I'll contact NWNF and see what they say. My car has to be fixed by the 23rd April so I'm running out of time and will probably end up paying for it myself :(
 
Back
Top