My garage roof has collapsed onto my tenants car

“Maybe Robert M is not talking such rubbish after all.”

Printed out and hung on office wall for staff to read.
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“The garage roof did not fall in because it lost the will to live.”

Well, ignoring the fact the roof is inanimate, it seems this is precisely what happened

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Look, to be frank sh** happens.

At work I have, on average, a “claim” every six months.

The freezer breaks down, the boiler breaks down etc etc. The younger the tenant the more likely you get a claim for compensation.

“To let” boards are another source of agony. “Your board fell on my car in high wind and caused £900 worth of damage – what are you going to do about it?” Answer (dressed up in many sympathetic paragraphs) sod all, your car is not worth £900 anyhow and the quote was prepared by your friend is an attempt to commit fraud.

No blame = no claim. Unfortunately, in our blame culture many do not realise this.

I have a library of draft letters for all this.

Reply to the comment left by “Robert M ” at “09/10/2013 – 14:18“:

I feel obliged to counsel readers to depart from opinion, speculation and plain invention and refer the original poster to Section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972. Which is, as we often say in this country, ‘the Law’.

In particular section 4(2) of the Defective Premises Act 1972. which those who use the word “counsel” in blogs might call a defence.

You are expected to maintain premises not be a mind reader.

If you parked your car outside my terraced house and a number of tiles slipped off the roof and landed on your car, who would be responsible?

Same principle here.

I let a flat with Garage.
The garage is in a separate block, and has separate Land Registration.

I had assumed that the garage was covered by the insurance for the block of flats, but now I am not so sure.
I shall be talking to the managing agent first thing tomorrow!

Reply to the comment left by “John Daley” at “09/10/2013 – 12:58“:

its arthur daley who is talking rubbish. the tort of strict liability does not apply to this scenario. there are all sorts of defences that the landlord can successfully employ. it is ridiculous to spout such ignorance so rudely.

Reply to the comment left by “Michael Barnes ” at “09/10/2013 – 21:40“:

Hi Michael, my block insurance covers the garage so I am taking it up with them in the first instance. I didn’t know there was any defect in the garage until the tenant called me. I am one of those landlords that takes repairs seriously and book them in straight away. Are you saying that if your tiles damaged a car you would be responsible for it ? and if so do you claim on your home insurance for his car ?? Im just trying to understand who I need to deal with to sort this out ??

Reply to the comment left by “Julie Dawson” at “10/10/2013 – 09:23“:

Julie

He needs to notify his car insurance, they will then contact you. When they do you will need to refer his insurers to your insurers (if you have landlords liability insurance) and the management company. It’s no different to you reversing into somebody’s car in a supermarket car park. Let the insurers sort it out.

Your focus should be on maintaining a good relationship with your tenants. Go and see them, take a bunch of flowers and assure them you want to remain on amicable terms and that you should both leave it to the insurance companies to do the arguing. That’s what you’d do if it just happened to be a tenants car you reversed into in Tesco’s car park isn’t it?

I really don’t understand why people are making this so complicated. Priority #1 must always be to keep the tenant happy and on your side. What’s the point of becoming the enemy? Work together to make sure the insurers and the management sort it all out for you both.
.

Reply to the comment left by “Mark Alexander” at “10/10/2013 – 09:40“:

Thanks mark for the uncomplicated sound advice. That’s all I’m after, a bit of guidance, 1st time it’s happened & I just want to do the right thing. Thanks again 🙂

Reply to the comment left by “Mark Alexander” at “10/10/2013 – 09:40“:

theres a big difference…there is an ongoing contractual relationship. it will be v hard to maintain goodwill if the landlord forces the tenant to risk NCB. I can see why the LL wants a definitive answer on liability.