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

[Catsos]

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.

No one can prove the cat broke the cat flap - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was already broken hence the cat entering the house.

they’re totally bonkers

do
not pay them that ludicrous amount

honestly. A fox could have gotten in snd done the same

its just an accident

The OP has offered to pay them something. But they can't expect to just charge whatever they like... £1600 really isn't reasonable for a solitary cat pee and a few crabsticks.

I'd understand their over reaction better if they didn't have cats themselves. It's only a matter of time before one of their own has a dodgy tummy and poos/ throws up on the rug. That's what cats do. I'm guessing they're new cat owners. They'll soon learn not to bother with expensive rugs and getting wound up about pawprints.

Yes, too small to claim. I’ve claimed twice. Both well over 20k. Making small claims is shortsighted.

If you pay up, what's to stop them claiming for a new sofa or another new rug etc etc a different time??

They could forever accuse your cat of causing damage to get new stuff.

It's on them to secure their house.

Beyond cheeky to have already ordered a new rug!

The vent and windowsill I agree you are liable for but how much damage can crabsticks and ice cubes have done?

I mean really, how shit was the paint if it was damaged by a couple of ice cubes and some seafood Snacks? 🤔

Why would John Lewis take a cat piss rug?

I have no advice but this absolutely made me lol....£200 for a new bathroom window vent as I pushed thinly slice honey roasted ham through it...tickled me.

Oh also I have a cat that goes outside and I think it's cruel to keep them in so I'm on your side there OP.

The neighbour has ordered a new rug from John Lewis to replace the cat piss rug.

🤣I think they meant the new one, not the cat piss one

How do they prove your cat was the only cat that got in? If they didn’t secure the cat flap then any cat could have previously got in too but managed to get out after doing damage. I doubt they can paw print your cat like fingerprints and dna test the wee. How do they know that it’s was just your cat? Could have been others too.

Pay. You will otherwise screw yourself over: declaring a dispute when you sell, and the risk they get revenge on your pet anytime in the future. Stop letting you idiot cat out, you know he’s breaking into houses, find ways to stimulate him inside the house.

I’d like to point out something that I think no one else has mentioned. The neighbors also intend to let their cat roam or they wouldn’t need a cat door.

Yes, but we have no way of knowing whether or not their cat is an invading nuisance like OP makes clear that hers is. If all cats were like that, hers wouldn't have a reputation in the street, would it? It doesn't have a reputation purely for 'being a cat'.

I'm also wondering if the £200 that the neighbours are asking for a replacement cat flap is based on their realisation that they are now going to have to go for a top-of-the-range ultra-secure heavy-duty one, now they know that there is a local cat that merrily breaks the normal ones.

After all, we've already seen them be blamed and shamed for having a cat flap that OP's cat can and will force his way through, so a standard plastic one - even one with microchip/magnet single cat entry only - is just going to be a complete waste of anybody's money.

Amazing, finally the end of this argument. Good luck OP rooting for you.
just post this alongside a note saying “following on from my research I am not liable, as a gesture of goodwill i will pay your excess of house insurance”
They are taking you for a ride no way would they have ordered already. They are trying to abuse your kindness.

Money aside, I’d like to think the OP felt guilty that their cat had done this much damage to someone else’s property. But they don’t seem to. They seem determined to blame the neighbours. My cats go out, don’t know where. My neighbours’ cat comes in and I tell him to bugger off so I totally get what’s happened here and it’s unfortunate all round but I think OP seemingly trying to take the moral high ground is just bizarre.

Because the cats can’t get back out.

What sort of a cat flap costs £200?

For that price I'd expect it to ID my cat by means of a retina scan and/or dna test and bar access to any unknown cat!

I would argue negligence because op's cat has done this several times before. If I was the neighbours I would talk to other victims of this cat's roaming.

What sort of a cat flap costs £200?

For that price I'd expect it to ID my cat by means of a retina scan and/or dna test and bar access to any unknown cat!

If I were a cat owner and I lived near OP and her infamous invading cat, that's the kind of thing that I'd feel forced to seek out.

Kindness? what kindness?

Hopefully their cat doesnt get into your house and damage your furniture and piss on your carpet as apparently thats just what they do.

@oneleggedspider OP doesn’t get to decide how much the builders/decorators will be charging ro fix the damage. If she’s concerned they’re over quoting perhaps she could offer to discuss it with them direct?
And I can empathise with the owners wanting the rug replaced because my old, beloved cat peed on a corner of carpet in my hallway that despite multiple professional cleans always smelt of cat pee when ir rained. Most unpleasant and absolutely would have set off another cat if it was in their home.

Whatever happens now, I guess this is astonishingly quick work to guarantee a full-scale long-standing neighbourhood feud - before one of the parties has even moved in.

I suppose that's just one consequence of not caring less how much of a nuisance your pet is, nor about being a considerate neighbour or making friends.

Your biggest mistakes was confessing to them about it all and writing many details on MN about it. As soon as your cat was out you should have pretended to not know anything about it.