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.

Let’s how they don’t see this post where you have cheaply stated you knew about the issue.

wtf £800 for a rug!

I wouldn't pay that - but a lot of people do, and they have every right to spend their own money as they choose.

I would never buy a brand new car, as they seem just a monstrous waste of money; but if I damaged somebody else's brand new car, I wouldn't be trying to divert from my culpability by blaming or criticising them for buying it.

I never thought I would ever be the sort of person who would begin a sentence with the words "what is the world coming to when..." but it appears it has finally happened that I have come across a situation that warrants it, hence...

What is the world coming to when it is seen as a kindness to do the right thing and fess up to damage caused by one's pet in the home of people who are simply trying to do what the rest of us do - create a nice home for ourselves.

I believe that most people on here would react the same irl as the owners and are only saying they wouldn't because OP has given them a good laugh over the last couple of days.

These costs sound way off.

Has the work they're asking you to pay for actually been done? Because if the window sills and walls need repainting then I would want to guarantee that that wasn’t work they were going to do in the house anyway. And in what world does it cost £150 to paint a bit of muddy wall, even if you have to do the full wall a tin of paint won't cost that much.
Same with £200 for a cat flap. If a cat flap costs that much and a cat trying to use it can damage it beyond repair then I would be returning it for a full refund.

Honestly offering them the cost of their home insurance excess as a goodwill gesture is more than enough. This could have been any animal that got in, fox, hedgehog, cat that didn't get stuck and they wouldn't have been able to charge anyone else.

And in what world does it cost £150 to paint a bit of muddy wall, even if you have to do the full wall a tin of paint won't cost that much.

It doesn't apply itself to the wall, though, does it?

I would pay either the excess of their insurance or for anything I had personally damaged at minimum.

Your relationship with these neighbours is not off to a good start. If you were my neighbour and I found your cat in my home again, it would be collected by the council every time. Then you can pay the pound fees to get it back.

If I wanted a cat flap I'd eliminate the problem of other cats using it by using one of those chip reader ones. Maybe you can suggest that for the neighbour?

Of course they do! BUT I’d like the OP to ask for the proof that the original rug cost this price and isn’t for the sake of rinsing the OP out of lots of money! I’d say it’s taking the (cat) piss!! Also it may depend how new the rug is that the damage isn’t also wear and tear! If I crashed into a brand new car, I’d expect my insurance to pay out on proof of purchase but not just because I wanted a new rug at the cost of £800 because it’s from John Lewis!! And I’m taking advantage!

my rug was £40 from dunelm and stinks of toddler wee? Should I claim, I have proof of purchase?!

Their brand new house was ruined by your actions and your pet and you don’t want to pay for the damage, only pay how much you think they should have…..

yeah. You are definitely unreasonable. you’ll end up in court and having to pay their fees as well if you don’t take responsibility.

Honestly offering them the cost of their home insurance excess as a goodwill gesture is more than enough. This could have been any animal that got in, fox, hedgehog, cat that didn't get stuck and they wouldn't have been able to charge anyone else.

This is just a red herring, though. If any other animal had done this - including somebody else on the street's cat - it would of course be nothing to do with OP; but the fact is that it WAS OP's cat that did it.

If I crashed into somebody's car, I wouldn't feel aggrieved at having to give them my insurance details and lose my NCB, purely on the grounds that they could have been hit by an uninsured driver and then been stung for the costs themselves.

Stray cats don't get collected by the council and taken to the pound! Because they have the right to roam. The council would just laugh at you and tell you to let it outside.

This thread has really opened my eyes to how little people understand cats. 🙈

Absolute piss takers, as if a cat can smell other piss after the rug has been professionally cleaned! CF. £200 for a cat flap!! What! £150 to paint a wall 😂 She shouldn’t have left the cat flap unlocked!

Oh come on! I’d like to see the proof of an £800 rug!! BEFORE it was replaced! I doubt it!

They are absolutely awful, the neighbours. £1800 for cat piss on the rug and some paw stains on the wall. But what's worse it's that there are quite a few people on here who think that's fair and just and reasonable. Can't wait till their cat starts going into other people's houses. That's what cats do. I always close the cat flap, so other ppl's cats can't come in. It's a relatively cheap one and still keeps other cats away.

Of course they do! BUT I’d like the OP to ask for the proof that the original rug cost this price and isn’t for the sake of rinsing the OP out of lots of money!

I was assuming that OP has actually been shown the damage in the house that her cat did, and thus it would be very obvious if a very tatty old rug ends up being replaced by a completely different posh one.

Regardless it doesn’t matter! Insurance companies ask for receipts of the original cost and if the CF neighbours are asking for £800 for a rug I’d also want proof before I hand over the readies!!

What is the world coming to when you'd charge your neighbour £200 for a bathroom vent rather than just dismantle and clean the ever so slightly pork stained one?

This thread has really opened my eyes to how little people understand cats.

I think it's more that people are shocked at how selfish and entitled some cat owners can be. We know that the cats themselves are free-roaming untouchable creatures by nature, but the same is not true of their human owners.

Loving some of these replies! Maybe I should ask my next door neighbour to replace my two pairs of damaged uggs for cat shit when putting out my washing?

Regardless it doesn’t matter! Insurance companies ask for receipts of the original cost and if the CF neighbours are asking for £800 for a rug I’d also want proof before I hand over the readies!!

I agree that the neighbour has jumped the gun and should have shown the receipt/proof of purchase first if at all possible (although it may have been a present or bought abroad). However, they might be well-off people who like 'the finer things' and it may not have occurred to them that £800 was any kind of outlandish cost for a rug. Some of them can cost several thousands.

No, OP doesn't want to be taken advantage of, but I don't think she automatically gets to call the shots and dictate the whole procedure when it was her moral liability in the first place.

I have a cat, I'm not in the UK, and the council here will collect the cat. Guess how I know? Obviously as OP is in the UK, it doesn't apply though.

OP should pay for her damage at least, and the new owners should get a cat flap for their own cat that uses a chip reader. That way no other cat can get in.

You can get sprays for the carpet that break down the urine, so it shouldn't attract other animals to go there afterwards. Maybe offer to buy one of those for the neighbour? Too bad if they went ahead and bought a new rug without that resolved.

But still an original proof of purchase is necessary here!

What is the world coming to when you'd charge your neighbour £200 for a bathroom vent rather than just dismantle and clean the ever so slightly pork stained one?

??? I wouldn’t have time for that. I don’t organise my life and time on the basis that people will come to my house and shove ham through my vents and that I will need to personally dismantle, clean and replace them along with any other madcap possibilities. It’s also something I just wouldn’t want to have forced on me as not really a chore I would want. So, with time factor alone I would therefore have to get someone in to do that. I’d be out of pocket and sure, maybe I’d wear this if my neighbour was such a CF but I sure as shit wouldn’t be waving and saying hi as we passed when I went out to my car. Any hi and wave from them would be met with a very different hand signal as I remembered my out of pocket expenses.

Just to re-iterate what some previous posters said already, we had a claim on the house insurance, and the premiums didn't go up, I know a few other people who claimed, theirs didn't go up either, it's not the same system as car insurances etc.