Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

How much to pay neighbour for theft

379 replies

tippietoppy2 · 29/09/2019 15:03

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

OP posts:
summersherewishiwasnt · 29/09/2019 18:09

Why did you offer to pay for it?
Do you know for sure you or your guest leftche hate and it was stolen in the window?
Even so they should have insurance.
Insurance doesn’t, can’t and won’t stop anything being stolen, I’ve been burgled twice in 3 months, am pretty pissed off tbh, and have learnt that insurance is cover your losses. If they have no insurance, there are no laws to save you have to pay for it..

Redshoesandtheblues · 29/09/2019 18:09

Like others, I'm dubious.

Kaddm · 29/09/2019 18:09

Dear neighbour,
£550 is way more than we could possibly afford. Please would you claim it on the insurance and I’ll be happy to pay up to £100 towards the excess.
OP

If they whinge, point out that you did not actually steal the bike.

Watch out offering the whole excess. It can be several hundred. You use high excess figures to get insurance cheaper.

Mummyoflittledragon · 29/09/2019 18:12

Tbh if you leave an item in a communal area, you cannot guarantee it will be safe. I agree with everyone else, how convenient for them that it just happened to be nicked during that brief time frame. You have absolutely no proof it was. Maybe it was nicked last week outside Sainsbury’s or sold / pawned to pay the kids private school fees.

easyandy101 · 29/09/2019 18:14

People saying that it sounds like it was planned because the person had bolt cutters...

What do you expect a bike thief to be rolling round with?

Bike theft is an opportunistic crime, done by people who are going equipped to do it

alioliloved · 29/09/2019 18:16

The cheek of them! Do not pay for that bike!

woodchuck99 · 29/09/2019 18:27

I would just offer to pay towards the excess as a good will gesture. There is not proof that it was stolen at the moment the gate was left often.

summersherewishiwasnt · 29/09/2019 18:30

Also a police report is not in any way proof of theft.
It is proof someone rang and reported a theft usually to the non emergency number.

Yabbers · 29/09/2019 18:56

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.

Point well and truly missed. My comment was about the fact the OP thinks how rich they are is a determining factor in how much she should pay. It isn’t. There may well be very good reasons not to pay but “because they are rich” isn’t one of them.

81Byerley · 29/09/2019 18:57

I'd go round and ask for a copy of the police report, or a crime number. Ask them what their insurance company said, then say your guests all deny leaving the gate open. You shouldn't have to pay. If I was in their position and I saw a lot of people in the garden that I didn't know, I'd have put all valuables like bikes away somewhere safe. Come to think of it, are they expecting you to pay for a new bike to replace a rust bucket that has been out in the garden for two years in all weathers?

Yabbers · 29/09/2019 18:58

Bike theft is an opportunistic crime, done by people who are going equipped to do it

If they are equipped, it isn’t opportunistic. Going equipped makes it predetermined.

Yabbers · 29/09/2019 18:59

I would just offer to pay towards the excess as a good will gesture

“I would give someone money, even though I am under no legal or moral obligation to do so, just to keep the peace”

I can’t believe this exists as a concept.

imnotinthemood · 29/09/2019 19:11

Bike theft is an opportunistic crime, done by people who are going equipped to do it*
What luck for the bike thief that he was passing during the 30 minutes the gate was open and he or she happened to have bolt cutters on them. Hmm

CallmeAngelina · 29/09/2019 19:13

You said in your OP that one of your guests "must have" left the gate unlocked. In other words, that is what you are assuming. Not proof enough to stump up funds to pay anything at all towards this bill.

donquixotedelamancha · 29/09/2019 19:18

Not their fault the gate was left open. Seems unfair that they should have to claim

It's not fair. Stealing is not fair and people should not steal.

Bit odd to think it's fair that OP pay for a brand new bike because maybe a guest left the gate open and maybe that's when a thief got in.

SoupDragon · 29/09/2019 19:19

People saying that it sounds like it was planned because the person had bolt cutters...

What do you expect a bike thief to be rolling round with?

If a bike thief is wandering about with bolt cutters they are planning to steal a bike. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make really.

MissLadyM · 29/09/2019 19:40

I think they're trying it on!

Blueoasis · 29/09/2019 19:51

Well they need to prove that your guest left the gate unlocked first. How do you know your guest left it unlocked? Maybe they didn't. The thief brought bolt cutters, they planned this. A locked gate wouldn't stop a criminal like that, hardly difficult to jump over or unlock.

I doubt they are telling the truth though.

Isleepinahedgefund · 29/09/2019 20:08

I find so many of the replies on here bizarre.

Unless she stole it herself, the OP has absolutely no liability for compensating the owner for the loss of the bike. She is not responsible for her guests’ actions - and anyway, there is absolutely no way anyone can definitely prove that it was their guest who left the gate of a communal garden unlocked.
I seem to recall that my last bike insurance (very basic) had pretty stringent conditions as to the storage and security of the bike - basically it had to be secured to something set into the floor/wall and somewhere where I could control access. A communal space of any sort would not have qualified.

reginafelangee · 29/09/2019 20:15

Don't pay anything. You didn't steal it.

They should claim this on their insurance.

Littlemeadow123 · 29/09/2019 20:18

A few things concern me with this.

A) Does this bike even exist or are they trying to pull a fast one? I'd want to see a police report of the theft.
B) Did it definitely get stolen while the gate was unlocked? I really dont know how they could be sure of this. Someone could easily have jumped the fence.
C) Why the heck wasnt such an expensive bike insured?

It is beyond cheeky of them to ask you to buy the most recent model. The most that they can claim is the amount they paid for the stolen bike. And personally, I wouldn't even pay them that much. Maybe just a little bit as a gesture of goodwill and only once they've provided proof that the bike did exist. If they could prove that the bike was stolen during the very short period that the gate was unlocked, I'd consider paying half.

If you really dont want to pay, you could maybe seek some legal advice? Maybe just find out how this case would stand up in a small claims court? Not that it will come to a court case, but it might give you some idea of how to best proceed, whether to pay the full cost, half the cost or nothing at all.

Original poster
tippietoppy2 · 29/09/2019 20:25

I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts and comments. I think it's a good idea to start with checking whether they were claiming under their insurance for the stolen bike. You are right, likely they would have needed to report the theft to the police to be able to claim under their insurance so hope they have everything in order.
I agree no legal obligation for us to contribute anything towards the bike. More just feeling bad on their behalf, it's totally rotten to have a bike stolen. And wanting to do the right thing. But within reason.
We did not see anyone enter the property. Are not familiar with the bike involved. Didn't see any theft. We were advised the next day by the neighbour, and taking their word for it. And yes it's extremely unlucky for a bike thief to be on our street during the small window of time.

OP posts:
ASauvignonADay · 29/09/2019 20:36

@tippietoppy2 how do you know the gate was left open? Did you guest tell you, the neighbour or did you see they'd left it open?

Whyisshedoingit · 29/09/2019 20:40

What did you say to them in the end OP?

Cryalot2 · 29/09/2019 20:45

Get proof it was stolen and a crime number and I would speak to my insrance company and do as they advised. That could be tell them that they were responsible from their own insurance.
Never give money.

Swipe left for the next trending thread