Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To break into my new neighbours house *THREAD 3: The Final Conundrum*

1000 replies

Catsos · 29/08/2023 15:44

I’m really not trying to drag this out 😩 but I seriously need some advice following on from my posts this weekend where my cat (who has a reputation for breaking cat-flaps in the neighbourhood) broke into my new neighbours vacant house while it is being renovated.

Here is the original post if anyone needs more context:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4881905-to-break-into-new-neighbours-house-serious-question-not-trolling

After not being able to get back out the cat-flap he was stuck in there for 48 hours over the bank holiday weekend and then finally released by the builder after various rescue attempts by me.

During that period however some damage occurred to my new neighbours property. I had hoped they would take it all in good spirits as fellow cat owners and we’d laugh about it and be new cat bessie mates but they we’re absolutely seething!!

They have proposed that I pay £1,600!!! for the following:

£800 to replace the rug my cat wee’d on

£400 to replace an area of laminate flooring as apparently the wee has gone into the underlay

I offered to pay £100 for professional rug cleaning, but the wife (who seems very neurotic) says her cats will still be able to smell my cats urine and they don’t want that to stress their cats out when they move them into the new home

£150 for repainting areas of muddy foot prints on the walls where my cat scratched to get out
(again I offered to just wipe them off but the wife insists it is repainted)

£50 to repaint window sils where the crabsticks & icecubes I dropped through the window has damaged the paint

£200 for a new bathroom window vent as I pushed thinly slice honey roasted ham through it

AIBU to think they are being very over the top? I could personally clean/repaint all of these things myself. Should I refuse to pay this amount? I don’t even have this amount available anyway, I would need to get an overdraft.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
daisychain01 · 29/08/2023 17:25

NewIdeasToday · 29/08/2023 15:47

Surely they need to claim on their household insurance.

Why should they? If they have a £300 + excess on their policy they will have to pay that, so will be out of pocket, plus the negative effect that the claim will have on their insurance track record.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 29/08/2023 17:25

Nahhhh. When she says, "why should we go through insurers", say "because that's what insurance is for".

That's pretty much the same way a lot of burglars and other thieves 'justify' and minimise their behaviour: "You can just claim on your insurance, what's the problem?".

And before people come on to state the obvious that a cat is not a human with agency and responsibility in the same way as a burglar is, the cat's owner is.

Freysimo · 29/08/2023 17:26

Goodadvice1980 · 29/08/2023 17:07

Cats are legally classed as free spirits so not sure where this leaves things with your neighbour 🤷‍♀️

This is what I thought. My cat accidentally got shut in neighbour's when he followed a friend who was feeding their fish when they were holiday. He was there a couple of days until I heard his cries and managed to get friend to let him out. I posted biscuits via letterbox. Cat had pooed but neighbours were absolutely fine. I bought them some wine.

Spirallingdownwards · 29/08/2023 17:26

NewIdeasToday · 29/08/2023 15:47

Surely they need to claim on their household insurance.

What so the insurance company would then claim off the original poster and the owners would have a further claim for uninsured loss such as premium increases. Don't be daft

Alargeoneplease89 · 29/08/2023 17:26

Yeah that is way over the top, you shouldn't be held accountable for their dodgy cat flap. I would offer rug cleaning and paint touch up but are lucky they aren't getting counter sued fir emotional distress that you and the cat went through with their cat flap being dangerous and trapping your cat 😂

jeffgoldblum · 29/08/2023 17:26

Are they aware that the cat flap has been fitted back to front?
The bit on the outside in your picture is supposed to be inside the flap is supposed to be on the outside, if your cat had( let's say!) broken it to get in in that configuration either it wouldn't have gained access or it would have been able to leave .

AmazingSnakeHead · 29/08/2023 17:26

It might help to reframe it: if your cat were dying trapped in that house, would you pay £1600 to save him? Two days ago you would have happily exchanged your car for £1600. Think of it as: you got your wish!

I think replacing the rug is reasonable. This is their brand new home.

Londonismyjam · 29/08/2023 17:27

OP you sound like a crazy cat lady. Pay up.

ZolaBudd · 29/08/2023 17:27

Thing is, if you make a contribution that you think it’s fine, and they disagree with it and they go and take it further to a County Court thing, the judge is is gonna laugh them out of the place

yorkie99 · 29/08/2023 17:28

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Strong agree

Doveytail · 29/08/2023 17:28

Titchyfeep · 29/08/2023 16:50

You are 100% a CF. You know your cat does this, didn’t keep it inside, caused further unnecessary damage to their house (how many people told you not to poke ham through and you did it anyway!) and now you don’t have insurance for your cat! Don’t think you should own a pet at all. Cough up and move on. I would personally be grateful that the neighbours didn’t take legal action!

This!!

AndromacheAstyanax · 29/08/2023 17:28

Oh OP I am so sorry you have had to go through all this. First you had the anxiety of your cat being stuck. You also received some fairly robust posts (amid the supportive ones) on here; personally, I’d have found hard to deal with in your shoes. Now, when it looked as though the saga was nearly over, you are faced with what seems to me excessive and punitive demands from the house owners. These figures seem far too high to me, and I do hope you can agree on some sort of amicable compromise. The ham was, for all its quality, probably not one of your finer ideas, but even that was well intended. Just as well you didn’t break a window, really.

Ladybug14 · 29/08/2023 17:29

I wonder if this is the longest (3 threads) troll post ever?

Anonymouslyposting · 29/08/2023 17:30

ZolaBudd · 29/08/2023 17:27

Thing is, if you make a contribution that you think it’s fine, and they disagree with it and they go and take it further to a County Court thing, the judge is is gonna laugh them out of the place

Why do you think that? Genuine question as I’m wondering what I’m missing! Do you think the OP isn’t liable or just that the amounts are wrong?

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 29/08/2023 17:30

Right sorry but you can't go sticking ham through vents. A lot of people are very anti pork

Of all the posts on all these threads, this is the one that has absolutely finished me off

It's easy to laugh it off, but you have no way of knowing whether the home owners are Jewish, Muslim or vegetarian/vegan. Not just people who 'prefer beef and aren't overly keen on pork', but people who would feel their private home had been deliberately violated, even desecrated, and would find all knowledge and traces of it deeply upsetting.

HouseIsOnFire · 29/08/2023 17:30

I'm genuinely confused by the windowsill - how did the ice cube and crab sticks damage it?

Unless the paint was still wet and now needs stripping back I suppose?

JenWillsiam · 29/08/2023 17:31

Catsos · 29/08/2023 16:19

Okay thank you for all of the advice. I think I will go round and counter with £400 which would cover £100 for rug cleaning, £100 for painting & £200 for the new cat-flap.

Are you joking? If they cat weed on laminate it will need replacing. That’s a given. Or her cats will start weeing on it. Been there ourselves. It’s a huge issue.

And blaming them?

You're so far off on this.

If you want to negotiate down then offer to paint yourself. Try with the professional rug clean. But the laminate etc you’re taking the piss.

KevinDeBrioche · 29/08/2023 17:31

Seriously who TF posts crab sticks and ham into a neighbours house?! That’s completely batshit behaviour.

if only it was real…

WiddlinDiddlin · 29/08/2023 17:32

Yeah they're being grade A cunts there.

No way does some crab sticks and water damage paintwork unless they painted the window sill in fucking watercolours.

The rug - mm, cat piss can be hard to get out - but id check how much the rug is really worth. Ditto the laminate. If they insist on a new rug, you want the old one your cat pissed on (you can then clean it and flog it!).

The cat flap is a joke - if it was fitted properly and set up properly, your cat wouldn't have got in - whilst it is possible to bounce open some external flaps, theirs is set up in a tunnel, I do not think that is possible for a cat to open from the outside. Unless your cat carries a tool belt and lock picking gear. Either they left it set on 'entry only' or its faulty in which case they can and should claim from the cat flap manufacturer and/or whoever installed it.

The air vent is a total pisstake - surely those can be opened from the inside to clean! No need for a new one!

Offer what you can afford. Take reasonable measures to stop your cat going into their garden (trellis the side of the garden that leads into theirs, rollers on the front edge at the top) and if they don't like it they can take you to small claims court and you will offer to pay back at whatever rate you can afford - could be as little as a quid a week. Much more hassle for them than simply claiming cat damage on their insurance.

Sorry they're being such arseholes!

diddl · 29/08/2023 17:32

Why are posters so sure that the cat flap is faulty?

CNDflag · 29/08/2023 17:32

@Ladybug14 no doubt there will be a book 'Crazy shit my cat did(n't) do', with rights to a hilarious slapstick tv series..

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 29/08/2023 17:32

And today on things that didn't happen...

Am I the only one who just does not believe this story? Call me a cynic!

Strong agree

Interesting - in the previous threads, it was those of us opining that pet owners should take responsibility for their animals and not just laugh their destruction off as 'cute' who were painted as the trolls...

caramacyears · 29/08/2023 17:32

I've lost interest now sorry.

momtoboys · 29/08/2023 17:33

They are definitely taking the piss about the rug.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In
This thread is not accepting new messages.