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.

Are people really this gullible.

Yes. I remember a documentary a few years ago in which tiny night-vision cameras were attached to various cats. This revealed that many of the cats spent their nights wandering in and out of each others’ houses and the owners had had no idea. The idea that a cat who does this is some kind of abnormal, criminal feline is really weird.

A neighbour’s un-neutered tom cat once got into our house and pissed all over the Christmas tree. Merry Christmas to you too, you furry twat! It never even occurred to us to demand compensation from the neighbour. Who does that?

More recently, we got a cat flap which recognises our cats’ microchips. One cat still managed to let his girlfriend in at night by having her follow him closely 🤣. We eventually worked out how to tweak the settings to prevent this.

Also regarding the windows, wouldn’t rain come in? If they are that concerned about water damage from the ice cubes, how do they know it wasn’t already damaged by rain fall?

I'm presuming it must have been a very tiny window indeed with a really narrow opening. After all, if it had been a decent size, OP would surely have hopped in (or asked a family/friend's child to do so) and gone to get the cat.

i really hope they see this, I just bought a new home, our first one which cost me and dh blood, sweat and tears. If a new neighbor treated my new home like this I would be devastated and wouldn’t be looking forward to moving in. This is such a sad thread. Perhaps OP has never had to work hard to afford a home. In this financial climate, there’s no way this house was in any way cheap and these home owners do not deserve to be treated with such disrespect.

Very well put indeed. The cat has treated their home as nothing more than an amenity, but then OP pretty much has done the same as well.

Then people on here have been hurling abuse at them for wanting their new home to be nice and how they like it. The fact that it's somebody's private home, that they've paid a huge amount of money for, is almost being treated as an inconsequential, irrelevant detail.

Very well put indeed. The cat has treated their home as nothing more than an amenity, but then OP pretty much has done the same as well.

🫤 The cat was trapped with nothing to eat or drink. And yes, it had to pee at some point. I doubt it was fun - I expect it the cat was very stressed.

Most local councils can barely manage to empty the bins. I've never heard of one offering a cat removal service. Our council charges £65 to take a sofa away, heaven knows what they'd charge to take something that might bite them.

Different country. But is there really no recourse if you have a 'nuisance animal'?

There would be a dog warden for dogs. Pest control for vermin, maybe wildlife rescue for wildlife. Not really anything for cats.

This made me laugh 🤣🤣
One of my cats was chased into my house through the cat flap by another cat who attacked him and then pissed on the floor. My cat developed an abscess afterwards and had to have treatment. It didn’t occur to me to try to get my neighbours to pay for new flooring and the cat insurance policy excess because I’m not a complete twat! It was as much my fault for having a shit cat flap! My response was to get a better quality cat flap! OP, these neighbours are being completely unreasonable! Also, who buys an £800 rug if you have cats? 🤔

Your neighbours are cheeky fuckers!

They be getting £100 as a goodwill gesture and they should could themselves lucky, its their own bloody fault!

How considerate.

I’d be interested to know what they would do if it was one of their cats that had got stuck inside an unoccupied property.

Their house was not secure. Faulty cat dlap and open window. This invalidates the insurance I would imagine.

I would pay for damages caused by myself but not by the cat.

OPs attitude has annoyed me so much, I am hoping that it is an accurate accounting, that it gets picked up by the news, that the neighbors see the report, and then they are able to use the details provided by op to facilitate their win in small claims court.

With a capital B

How is the cat? Is it settled now its back home? Eating crab sticks ok?

😂They wouldn't get very far, it's a cat and they aren't held responsible for homeowners not having a secure property.

An unfortunate situation but your neighbours bear the responsibility for the situation (albeit it is annoying for them). Who leaves an empty house with an unsecured cat-flap? Clueless if you have just bought the house but are not a cat owner or someone familiar with cats, but completely irresponsible in the case of a cat owner (as here). Either way the responsibility lies with the home owner. It's the cat equivalent of buying a new house and leaving the front door ajar before moving in.

As for the prices demanded (£200 for the bathroom ventilator? Last place I moved into had a broken ventilator, cost £15 to buy a replacement - they come in standard sizes - and took me ten minutes to slot into place). Same applies to catflap (£50-60 tops, again a standard fitting). Everything else grossly overpriced in terms of a reasonable claim.

Your new neighbours have shown their colours instantly, and are simply attempting to take advantage of your good nature.

Really unfortunate to start a relationship with new neighbours on this footing but frankly moving house is acknowledged as one of the most stressful things in life, and to any reasonable person this incident would be dwarfed by the overall picture (it also has its humorous side to anyone with something about them). If the builders are still there I bet they could fix everything as part of the entire job for an extra £100 including parts. Your offer to clean the rug on top of that is more than reasonable.

Best of luck with this but stand your ground & don't allow yourself to be bullied. Don't sign anything, beware of a hidden camera recording any conversation. £150 maximum is generous & neighbourly.

I can't stand cats, but I still think the fault is with the neighbour, not OP. It's common knowledge that cats come in and out of other people's cat flaps, (my mother's late cat used to this and somehow manage steal an assortment of things from legs of lamb to knickers). If they didn't want other people's cats, foxes et el in the house, seal up the cat flap.

They can be upset it happened, but the law is OP's side and she doesn't have to pay a penny. That's what house insurance is for.

Why should they claim on their insurance?

Well unforeseen circumstances are exactly what insurance is for. And if they had secured their cat flap properly, there wouldn't be an issue.

Also forgot say, if you give in to your neighbours at all, you will be on the back foot and you'll be pushed around indefinitely, with moaning about noise, rubbish bins, whatever bossy neighbours like to moan/boss about.

You aren't paying, the laws on your side, that is what house insurance is for. You can be sorry that they are upset about it, without be responsible.If they try to brow beat you into paying, just repeat ad nauseam you are not legally responsible and to take you to small claims court if they want to pursue. (They won't because they know the court won't award them with even 1p)