How much to pay neighbour for theft

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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

Askto see the police report. Also their insurance should cover the bike, so I would ask what thier excess is and only pay that. Can they prove the bike was there?

"multiple kids in private schools, do you have any idea how much that costs? Many people really struggle with that cost"

It's 2019. They have a choice about having children and about where they go to school.

Where their kids are educated isn’t relevant. Only whether this was the OP’s fault is.

I can more than understand the frustration of having a bike nicked, but they should do what I did when mine was stolen, and claim on insurance. £35 a year extra on my house insurance, and each bike is insured for up to £3k as long as they're in a permanent building, or secured with a lock to an immovable object. Mine was chained to a fence outside work when it was pinched, I called my home insurance who planned to send a replacement out the following week.

(In the end they didn't need to - I found my bike on Gumtree being sold 80 miles away a few days later, and the police got it back!)

Have your other neighbours been quizzed? Have they been presented with an invoice too?

I personally might consider giving the excess if I knew for certain one of my guests had been responsible. But it is a hell of a coincidence that someone spotted the gate was open and oopsadaisy just happened to find bolt cutters in their pocket.

I’d be asking for the police report and without that I’d be doing nowt.

Frankly, I smell shite. And quite possibly a genius way of scamming folk out of money by unscrupulous thieves.

I'd be telling them that as it is such a high amount you will have to go through your insurance, so they will need to provide you with proof of purchase and the crime reference number to forward to your insurance company. I bet you don't hear from them again!

So in the 30 minutes that your guest left the garden unlocked some chancer with bolt cutters just happened to pop in and nick their bike?

Pay the excess on the insurance claim. They will need a crime number for that.

If thieves were able to cut the chain then wouldn’t they be able to open the gate even if it was locked?

If thieves were able to cut the chain then wouldn’t they be able to open the gate even if it was locked Exactly. I smell a very greedy rat here.

Wow! Why on earth did you offer to pay? You didn't steal the bike. It's not your fault. This is what insurance is for.

Their insurance may not pay, if it was felt that by having the gate open means it wasn't secure. Though if it was locked, it shouldn't matter.

Well, obviously they need to check their insurance before anything else!

I wouldn't have offered. Give a hundred pounds towards it as a goodwill gesture. Explain that you cannot afford more.

They’re taking you for a mug. So they claim the gate was unlocked for less than an hour and someone just happened to walking by with bolt cutters in that time? They’re having a fucking laugh.

would go with the standard "like for like" which is what insurance would do.

My insurance offers new for old as standard. Which makes sense as, if my house burned down I wouldn’t be expected to shell out for a house full of second hand 5 year old equipment that I couldn’t guarantee was the same standard as mine.

I would expect to pay an insurance excess if it were my fault something was stolen, but I wouldn’t pay if one of my guests left a gate open, I’d pass their details to the person and say it were between them.

But, I should add, it doesn’t matter how rich your neighbours are. If something of theirs was stolen, it should be replaced. I’d hate to think someone would turn round and tell me I could afford to fix my car if they crashed in to it, just because I had more money than they did.

That's completely different Yabbers if somebody crashes into your car they clearly have a legal liability for your damage and of course rta insurance is mandatory. In this case it's possible one of Ops guests left the gate unlocked and even if that were proven, it still doesn't make her legally liable. These things happen and looking to blame a neighbour is ridiculous.

£100 contribution and that's it.

I don’t think i’d give them any money. There is an inherent risk to keeping something in a communal area, and they have to take responsibility for taking that risk.

I'd offer to pay the insurance excess. If they haven't reported the theft, or even worse, don't have insurance then that's their problem not yours.

House insurance will cover it - bikes chained up within the property are covered. They are being pretty cheeky expecting a brand new bike. They need to report it and get a crime number

Not a single penny, it isn't your fault and it should be insured.

And definitely ask for the police report. If they can't give you one that matches up with the date of the alleged theft then they're taking the piss out of you.

Have you seen the broken lock ??

How did you find out bike stolen? Did they approach you and say must have happened when you had guests round?

Who narrowed the window of opportunity down? And how?