Roof Tile Incident
Discussion
Afternoon folks,
On Christmas Eve, I parked my car on a local high street whilst going to have my hair cut. I returned 20 minutes later to find a group of people stood around my car. A roof tile and a lump of flashing had fallen from an adjacent commercial property and landed on the bonnet. It was a very wet day, not windy. Luckily said people pointed this out to me, given the rain, I was running back to the car and would have jumped in and driven off probably without noticing.
Quotation from VW to replace the bonnet is circa £1200 inc VAT.
Anyway, the building is owned by a group of directors pension fund, and they obviously have liability insurance. However, their insurer has declared today there is no liability on their part as there is no proof of negligence.
The pension fund cannot produce any documents to support any kind of inspection or maintenance on the roof, and they state; "they have owned the property for at least 10 years with no previous incidents of this nature". My argument is, if you own something for 10+ years and never maintain it, at some point it's going to fail. Thus negligence and liability.
Problem is, I really don't know how to move this forward. I'm just trying to avoid putting this through my own insurance, as it will almost certainly lead to a fault claim on my insurance, so increased premiums for the next five years.
Any advice gratefully received.
Jon
Pics below...
On Christmas Eve, I parked my car on a local high street whilst going to have my hair cut. I returned 20 minutes later to find a group of people stood around my car. A roof tile and a lump of flashing had fallen from an adjacent commercial property and landed on the bonnet. It was a very wet day, not windy. Luckily said people pointed this out to me, given the rain, I was running back to the car and would have jumped in and driven off probably without noticing.
Quotation from VW to replace the bonnet is circa £1200 inc VAT.
Anyway, the building is owned by a group of directors pension fund, and they obviously have liability insurance. However, their insurer has declared today there is no liability on their part as there is no proof of negligence.
The pension fund cannot produce any documents to support any kind of inspection or maintenance on the roof, and they state; "they have owned the property for at least 10 years with no previous incidents of this nature". My argument is, if you own something for 10+ years and never maintain it, at some point it's going to fail. Thus negligence and liability.
Problem is, I really don't know how to move this forward. I'm just trying to avoid putting this through my own insurance, as it will almost certainly lead to a fault claim on my insurance, so increased premiums for the next five years.
Any advice gratefully received.
Jon
Pics below...
How often do you have the roof on your house inspected? Somewhen around "shortly after I notice there's a problem", I'd bet.
Unless you can prove some kind of negligence - that they knew (or should reasonably have known) of a problem, but ignored it - it's your car insurer's problem.
Have to admit, I'm not seeing a requirement for a new bonnet there, either. Or am I missing something?
Unless you can prove some kind of negligence - that they knew (or should reasonably have known) of a problem, but ignored it - it's your car insurer's problem.
Have to admit, I'm not seeing a requirement for a new bonnet there, either. Or am I missing something?
If there is a pension fund which owns the building, I'd guess they have building management company acting for them (i.e. someone who lets it out for them, arranges window cleaning and repairs....things like that).
The agent (if there is one) will often be contracted to arrange any annual/bi-annual inspections of the property and these may include the roof. If they haven't been done, you may be able to establish negligence that way.
Often you find, once you do a bit of digging, that a managing agent may have told the owners that the building is in need of repair and that nothing has been done about it (most often through lack of funds or the owners not wanting to put their hands in their pockets).
It may be worth asking the question.
Good luck.
The agent (if there is one) will often be contracted to arrange any annual/bi-annual inspections of the property and these may include the roof. If they haven't been done, you may be able to establish negligence that way.
Often you find, once you do a bit of digging, that a managing agent may have told the owners that the building is in need of repair and that nothing has been done about it (most often through lack of funds or the owners not wanting to put their hands in their pockets).
It may be worth asking the question.
Good luck.
TooMany2cvs said:
Have to admit, I'm not seeing a requirement for a new bonnet there, either. Or am I missing something?
The photos don't clearly show the damage... the dent is around 2" deep, and has creased the back leading edge nearest the screen. It's also knocked the washer jet and the under-bonnet lining off.
It would have killed someone if it had hit them!
Dr Interceptor said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Have to admit, I'm not seeing a requirement for a new bonnet there, either. Or am I missing something?
The photos don't clearly show the damage... the dent is around 2" deep, and has creased the back leading edge nearest the screen. Dr Interceptor said:
It's also knocked the washer jet and the under-bonnet lining off.
Ohnoes!Dr Interceptor said:
It would have killed someone if it had hit them!
Which it didn't.Davel said:
I think that you do have to prove negligence on their part or just claim on your insurance.
Not sure that a lack of invoices for inspections or work done proves negligence.
Thank god no one was killed.
Why do you have to prove negligence, what if it had been examined the previous day, and still fallen off, what happened to "Wheres there blaime theres a claim", certainly wasnt the drivers fault.Not sure that a lack of invoices for inspections or work done proves negligence.
Thank god no one was killed.
What if it had killed someone, would they have to prove negligence?
Vipers said:
Why do you have to prove negligence, what if it had been examined the previous day, and still fallen off, what happened to "Wheres there blaime theres a claim", certainly wasnt the drivers fault.
What if it had killed someone, would they have to prove negligence?
In a word....yes.What if it had killed someone, would they have to prove negligence?
Dr Interceptor said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Is that all? Have you run it by a bodyshop?
Not sure why you've given such a sarcastic replyDr Interceptor said:
but yes, I have. It needs a new bonnet.
Fair enough. They have seen it in the flesh.a few years ago, I came out to my car, parked on my driveway to find to surrounded by asbestos roof sheeting, including on top of it.
my neighbours poorly maintained garage roof had blown off in a storm- my car took the brunt.
wing damage, bonnet, windscreen. proper mess.
I photographed extensively his knackered garage and so on- the other neighbours 7 garages and my own on our little street had survived the storm fine.
made the argument his lack of maintainance, neglect et al had contributed. i.e a smashed window on the garage will not have helped with gale force winds blowing up and into the garage for instance.
got absolutely nowhere, even with my legal aid. yes my car was fixed but I had to stand the excess.
good luck though, I mean my neighbour could see his broken garage, it was obvious. as for a tile blowing off a roof..... really- would you in all likelihood see that developing ?
my neighbours poorly maintained garage roof had blown off in a storm- my car took the brunt.
wing damage, bonnet, windscreen. proper mess.
I photographed extensively his knackered garage and so on- the other neighbours 7 garages and my own on our little street had survived the storm fine.
made the argument his lack of maintainance, neglect et al had contributed. i.e a smashed window on the garage will not have helped with gale force winds blowing up and into the garage for instance.
got absolutely nowhere, even with my legal aid. yes my car was fixed but I had to stand the excess.
good luck though, I mean my neighbour could see his broken garage, it was obvious. as for a tile blowing off a roof..... really- would you in all likelihood see that developing ?
austinsmirk said:
really- would you in all likelihood see that developing ?
No, in truth you wouldn't. Whether it was a rusting nail etc, you wouldn't know till it came down.It just irks though. Incidentally, I called my broker for my own commercial premises, and we are covered for public liability up to £2m, regardless of cause, blame or negligence. If my building damages someone's car, I'm covered.
But their insurer states in their email - "In order for a liability claim to be successful it is required to be proven that our insured have been negligent." So their public liability insurance only stands in cases where they have been negligent.
Seems odd?
A whole chimney fell from a roof on my high Street on to the pavement below. Thank God it didn't hit anyone
Landlord patched up the damage and a few years later, a load of tiles slid off. Again, no one was hit. Thank God
Both incidents made local press. There were no reports of LL getting in any trouble
Landlord patched up the damage and a few years later, a load of tiles slid off. Again, no one was hit. Thank God
Both incidents made local press. There were no reports of LL getting in any trouble
h really but I think you'll just need to claim on your insurance, or find another Golf breaking in the same colour and swap the bonnet?There was a somewhat similar episode to this with a chap who parked his 100K Porsche in the middle of a field while camping. The next tent owners awning blew off in the wind and clouted his car.
Similarly in that scenario the car owner thought he took no responsibility in where his car was parked and wanted to sue the awning owner for a Porsche paint job,
I suspect the ending of the two cases will be very similar.
Similarly in that scenario the car owner thought he took no responsibility in where his car was parked and wanted to sue the awning owner for a Porsche paint job,
I suspect the ending of the two cases will be very similar.
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