How much to pay neighbour for theft

[tippietoppy2]

We live in London in a converted building where there are several flats. We had some guests over to the communal garden, and during the visit one of our guests must not have secured the side gate properly (for a max of 30/45min). Our neighbour later said their bike, which they had secured with a bike chain, got stolen (they told us thief cut through chain with bolt cutters).
We were very apologetic to our neighbour, and asked if we could contribute towards the bike. Our neighbour has sent us an invoice for the bike purchase of £525 from 2017 and their bank account. They asked us to send them £550 to buy the current model.
We feel terrible their bike got stolen. We want to be a good and considerate neighbour, and want to contribute financially towards the bike. But TBH I was shocked by the amount they are asking for. We were not expecting to buy them a brand new bike. It's not like we stole the bike ourselves. We are not familiar with the bike involved, nor seen a police report for the theft.
We have not even bought brand new bikes for ourselves or our kids ever, always purchasing our family bikes (and even our children's buggies) 2nd hand. We also don't have the budget to pay them £550.
Our neighbour is evidently extremely wealthy with multiple kids in private schools (we are an ordinary family with kids in free state schools). Possibly they might not understand £550 is a huge amount to a normal family.
How much is fair and reasonable to pay towards the neighbours stolen bike?
a) £550
b) £275 - half the price of another brand new bike
c) £250 - full cost of a 2nd hand bike (eg buy same model on ebay/gumtree)
d) £125 - half the price of another 2nd hand bike
e) see if they can claim it under their home and contents insurance, and we contribute towards the excess. The bike was chained right outside their front door. Although I suspect they probably didn't report the theft to the police
f) £100 - goodwill gesture
Any other idea's or suggestions appreciated. Would like to try to resolve it so we all feel comfortable and happy.
PS The Freehold building insurance doesn't cover personal property

Fisharesexierthanme

The OP later says having spoken to the guest, they all assume the OP that they didn't leave the gate open so the OP doesn't believe it was the guests fault at all

Did you make this statement up? 😂😂 I've re-read the thread and can't see that she said this at all. I have the OPs posts highlighted and I've read both her posts. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong

I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts and comments

And yet you never return OP....

IF the OP's guest did leave the gate unlocked, it still doesn't make it her responsibility. If anything, the neighbour should sort it out directly with that guest.

@GreatBigNoise I can't see that post either.

Update OP?

Personally I would be offering them a gesture of goodwill. Nothing more. Unless they provide cctv evidence/a police report giving details of the theft then it may have never even happened.

Surely a gesture of goodwill will be seen as an admission of guilt?

Hi Everyone. It’s the OP here! Have read through all the comments, they have been invaluable.

Decision: make a goodwill offer to our neighbour. They can use it how they like.
I agree we should be asking to see the police report, ther insurance details etc. Our neighbour is not a friendly guy. I don’t want to drag out a situation that could create tension. I am taking his word about the bike theft, and trust he wouldn’t raise it if it wasn’t true.

Before you say it – yes I’m probably dumb to give money for something I’m not liable for, and even dumber to give money to someone unfriendly who may not appreciative it. But it’s just what my conscience tells me to do, trying to think how I'd feel if I was in their shoes.
Someone commented that probably the neighbour won’t be happy unless he gets £550 to buy his new bike. I suspect they are right. But hope the neighbour can appreciate the goodwill involved from our side in trying to do the right thing. And think it's reasonable that they should explore their insurance.

I wanted to say a BIG thanks to everyone in this community for sharing their thoughts and ideas. There is clearly no right or wrong answer, and lots of different views. Glad to have all the support.

And thank you for waiting for my update. Had a sick child on my hands.

I fear your goodwill gesture will not be enough and, as others have said, will be taken as an admission of guilt. If he isn’t friendly, he may well use that payment as leverage for recouping the whole lot.

Hope your child feels better soon.

With some people, you give them an inch and they take five hundred thousand fucking miles.

Let’s hope your neighbour isn’t one of them.

I would caution against giving your neighbour anything because, as I've said upthread, it could be seen as an admission that you are liable for their loss and it could open the gate (where have I heard that before?) to them coming back to you for more. or for the ridiculous amount they expect you to pay

If you are intent on giving them money, make it crystal clear IN WRITING that you are gifting them the sum of £x as a gesture of neighbourly goodwill and that this gesture should not be seen as any admission of liability or responsibility for the loss of their bike - which a) they should have insured and b) should have ensured that it was secured by a device or chain which could not be broken.

Personally, I wouldn't give them a penny but if you've got money to burn I don't see any reason why you should give them any more than £10 -£20 and I regard the upper figure as being more than generous.

Frankly , it sounds as if you're scared of your neighbour and are kowtowing to him because you find him intimidating whereas, as I see it, he's just another cheeky fucker who should be told to do one.

This is London ffs where no-one in their right mind leaves expensive bikes or other gear outside their house and expects to find it untouched in the next hour/day/week etc.

I live on a leafy avenue in a pleasant part of the capital, but if I'm outside cutting my front garden hedge and need to use the lavatory I make sure that the electric trimmer, shears, and any other paraphernalia comes back indoors with me.

I hope your dc is fully recovered soon.

Contrary to how it might sound from my above post, I'm not a mean-minded soul.

I regularly donate to charities, always add a sum to my Ocado bill in order to donate to food banks, and when a neighbour was mugged when returning home from the Post Office after collecting their pension I was more than happy to cover their loss.

However, I have an intense dislike of cheeky fuckers and feel no compunction about saying no to their requests for money or goods.

Completely off point but only in London would you have a rich neighbour with multiple kids in expensive private schools and pricey push bikes but a communal garden 🤣🤣🤣 hilarious.
As a garden of England girl you can bog off with your private schools and push bikes and give me an acre of my own space please! Love LONDON!
Ps - think you did well OP

Weird how these bike thieves showed up in such a small window of time complete with bolt cutters.
Very suspect if you as me.
More likely that your neighbours saw the opportunity with the unlocked gate, to get a brand new one by making theirs disappear.

Who would ask someone for a brand new bike under these circumstances. What a piss take.

Sorry to hear your child was sick. Hope they are better now.
How much did you offer your greedy neighbour ?

I also don't think a goodwill gesture is a good idea. If your neighbour' was reasonable then that would be different.

Pay nothing. They should have insured the bike. Possibly I’d consider contributing to insurance excess but only if I saw the police report and quotes for like for like replacement

We had a neighbour say that she made an allegation about my oh.

we’re in a legal dispute with the neighbour and her solicitor was repeating completely false accusations

Oh contacted the local police to state his version and to inform them he had a reliable witness to corroborate his version.

Turns out she’s not contacted the police at all. Made all that up for the benefit of the solicitor and to try to play dirty.

You need to see the report, or call the local 101 team and ask them if there’s been a bike theft reported. They won’t be able to claim on any insurance without one. You shouldn’t pay out a bean if there isn’t a corroborated police report.

I don’t think you should allow yourself to be intimidated into giving any money at all. Especially As your guest said they’d NOT left gate insecure.

You seem concerned about an atmosphere with this neighbour if you don’t pay up... he’s not in the slightest bit concerned about YOUR feelings!

Check the facts, don’t pay a bean until you know he’s not lying.

I believe though that NO payment will be less controversial than a token £20 payment...

You know that any payment is an admission of guilt.

I fear your goodwill gesture will not be enough and, as others have said, will be taken as an admission of guilt. If he isn’t friendly, he may well use that payment as leverage for recouping the whole lot.

This^

This is not going to end well. I'm waiting for the CF neighbour to send the OP an invoice for the balance.

This incident could be the beginning of a long running saga.

But hope the neighbour can appreciate the goodwill involved from our side in trying to do the right thing.

He won't. He's shark-like in his persona, a lot of successful people have to be. He doesn't do or accept goodwill gestures. If the situation was reversed, would you have gone directly to him with your accusation/demand for financial compensation complete with bank details ?

Probably not. Even if you did, all you would get is indignant denials. The best you could hope for would be an aggressive, 'PROVE IT.' You would have been told patronisingly, 'well don't tell me, tell the police then advise your insurance company. Don't you come to me with your tales and false accusations. You should be careful making unsubstantiated allegations about theft.'

I suspect other things will be going missing with you being blamed by the same neighbour until the original £550 been recouped. Not least to, 'punish' you for not coughing up what you were told, when you were told.

You've done this to keep the peace, that's all.

The money you've given as a goodwill gesture will be taken as an admission of guilt and, as another poster has suggested, could be used as leverage. Like I say, he's sounds shark-like in his persona and he can sense blood in the water. In his world you're either a shark or shark bait.

You know that any payment is an admission of guilt.

I agree with this. And I find it odd that you haven't made polite enquiries about the insurance/police report etc. I think you've made a mistake, OP, 'conscience' or not.

I would own nothing and hopefully they would like it

I still wouldn't give him anything....

You are taking responsibility for something that is not your responsibility.

It is madness leaving an improperly secured bike in a semi public area in London!

You don't know
A) the bike existed
b) that it was stolen in that small window
C) It was actually locked at all
D) It was actually stolen.

That it's been reported to police... Why not ring the police independently to see if it is reported? It should be easy.... Casual fraudsters are less likely ro contact police

Who leaves a £500+ bike in a communal garden in London using only a cut-able bike lock?! I live in a really safe area and our bikes are locked in the shed which we bought especially. We then added an extra lock and security screws. We also pay extra on our house insurance to cover the contents of the shed (and the bikes away from home).

Your neighbour is a CF who’s trying to make you pay for their own (stupid) risk.

Also, as PPs have said: how do they/you know the bike was stolen in the very short time the gate was ALLEGEDLY open? But anyway, that’s irrelevant really because your neighbours were way more irresponsible than you were responsible so there’s no way you should pay the full amount.

Their risk, their loss.

You’re totally within your rights to not give them a penny, but if I were you, because I’d already offered to contribute, I think I’d offer them £100 towards a new bike or the insurance excess.

I bet he's laughing now.... he thinks he's got a direct line to your bank account