Leave thy neighbour.. to pickup bill for the repairs
My neighbour caused damage to my property. Who is responsible to pay for the repairs?
If your property is damaged due to an incident in your neighbour’s house, such as a washing machine flooding, and you have home insurance, it’s best to contact your insurance company first and request a claim form. They may pursue your neighbour further down the line.
You may also be able to make a claim through their insurance policy, which would mean no loss of your own no claims bonus, and no excess to pay.
Where this is not an option, you can ask the neighbour to pay for the damage and come to an amicable agreement. Communication is often the best option to maintain a positive relationship with your neighbour.
However, if they refuse, you can go to court. You will have to prove your neighbour did not take reasonable care to prevent the accident.
So long as the total damage does not exceed £5000 you can use the Simple Procedure at court which is quicker and less costly to pursue. If you are claiming more than £5000, you will have to use the Ordinary Cause action which is more complex.
If you decide this is your best option, legal advice should be sought. In any instance, collect evidence and take photos with dated documents should you need to provide it to your insurance company, and/or court.
i opened a complaint with my energy supplier over a month ago. i’ve not heard back from them and now i can’t get in touch at all. Can i go to the energy ombudsman?
You can go to the ombudsman if eight weeks have passed since you opened the complaint, or you have received a “deadlock letter”, which is a final response from your supplier.
If eight weeks have not yet passed since you made the complaint, you need to keep doing your best to contact your supplier. Keep reaching out, and make sure you make a record of when and how many times you have tried to get in contact with them.
Records might be in the form of your call history, an email trail, or copies of letters.
It’s important to show you have made reasonable attempts to pursue your complaint. The ombudsman expects at least three contacts within an eight-week period.
While you’re waiting on a response, you should gather as much evidence as possible and, to the best of your ability, create a timeline of events.
The timeline should cover the period from when you first noticed the issue to the present. Evidence can include copies of disputed bills, photographs of faulty meters, and bank statements.
after eight weeks, you can take your complaint to the ombudsman.
When your case is created, you will have up to 14 days to submit your evidence.
The ombudsman is an impartial service, making decisions based on evidence from both you and your supplier.
It’s therefore crucial to provide as much evidence as possible to help reach a fair decision.
If they rule in your favour and you accept their decision, your supplier is obligated to implement it within 28 days.