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Original poster

Neighbour issue - does she have a case to ask for compensation?

55 replies

NeighbourIssue · 29/05/2014 08:55

Just quick details

Victorian conversion with 3 flats.

Neighbour has kept a suitcase in communal hallway since Christmas.
Time and time again we asked her to move it. it was always next week...

Suitcase falls one day after we got in, if we had been out it would have blocked the door, preventing all three flats from getting into the building. Giant weight, could have hurt my child if it had fallen on it.

That day we moved it to the bin cupboard.

5 days later, neighbour knocks on door and says it was stolen.
Today (2 weeks on) she says she wants compensation as there were 'Dolce & Gabanna' dresses in there and it was thousands of pounds of clothes.

I just kept repeating she had left them there for 5 months, it fell and could have blocked us all in.

She said we should have knocked on her door and asked for it to be taken in. Basically what we had done for 5 months.

Does she have a leg to stand on?

(ps name changed for this post)

OP posts:
supadupapupascupa · 29/05/2014 09:58

if she seriously thinks it is a case of theft, then she needs to report it to the police to obtain a crime number with which she can claim on her insurance. If she does not do this she doesn't really think it was theft in my opinion.

JingletsJangletsYellowBanglets · 29/05/2014 09:59

She told me this morning she "had talked to her parents and they said it was theft and she wanted compensation"

HaHAHAHAA..... tell her to contact her insurance company, if she's got a contents policy and let them explain how it works to her and her parents.

supadupapupascupa · 29/05/2014 10:00

oh dear me........ tell her we all want money for nothing and to do one. if she had kept it in her flat it wouldn't be missing.

MadScientistsRuleTheAsylum · 29/05/2014 10:01

Her parents are just as bonkers. Mine would say "what, you left thousands of pounds of stuff in a communal hallway? More fool you and don't be so stupid next time"

differentnameforthis · 29/05/2014 10:20

So the fool leaves thousands of pounds worth of dresses in a case, in a communal hallway....my arse she did.

It was probably a dead body!! Grin

Original poster
NeighbourIssue · 29/05/2014 10:21

Thanks.

We and the other flat left multiple notes since December and told her when we saw her in person. she simply ignored it all

OP posts:
LIZS · 29/05/2014 10:22

and how can you knowthat she didn't retrieve it herself and isn't making trouble now.

Original poster
NeighbourIssue · 29/05/2014 10:26

We don't... There is no proof of anything...
That has indeed crossed my mind...

OP posts:
Original poster
NeighbourIssue · 29/05/2014 14:09

Thanks all, we managed to get a copy of the lease (husband had it saved on dropbox) and it does mention you should not keep anything in the communal areas at all.

So we shall focus on the fact she is in breach of the lease

OP posts:
nauticant · 29/05/2014 15:44

Nice detective work OP.

So here are three good points to focus on if you discuss this with her:

  1. If you consider there to have been a theft, have you reported this to the police or do you intend to do so?

  2. If you're looking for compensation then your insurance company is the route to go down. It's nothing to do with us.

  3. To help you in dealing with the first two issues, I thought I'd mention that it looks like you were in breach of the conditions of the lease.

Hereward1332 · 29/05/2014 15:59

Don't overcomplicate it.

You didn't steal her things, so you are not responsible. The thief is.

The suitcase was left in a communal area, and moved somewhere where it was not causing an obstruction. She knew this and left it there; whether or not she thinks you are culpable for moving it, she had 5 days to move it somewhere safer if she did not consider that it was safe there. She knew where it was and knew the risks entailed in not moving it somewhere secure. She was negligent, the responsibility rests with her.

hesterton · 29/05/2014 16:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
NeighbourIssue · 29/05/2014 18:38

Thanks all.
Let's see what time she comes round... If it's while I am putting my daughter to bed we will tell her to come back

OP posts:
zipzap · 29/05/2014 19:16

Oh and make sure you call the bin room something like the storage cupboard or the utilities locker or bike place etc - something that makes it sound that it's a reasonable place to leave things...

There are some places where the bin room is a place where the only stuff in it is stuff to be thrown out. People who are used to such places as bin rooms might automatically jump to the conclusion that your dh had moved it to be thrown out. Whereas if you make it sound like plot is a storage room (that can also temporarily store rubbish prior to collection) then it sounds a much more reasonable thing to do and she will have even more problems trying to argue for compensation.

Oh and I agree with what your dh did but working on the basis of anything to strengthen your case against such loons is helpful (no pun intended).

Also - If she keeps on asking for compensation or saying you stole it for too long is it worth reporting her to the police for harassing you and ask them to have a quiet word with her?

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 29/05/2014 20:53

I'm not legal but surely it was a fire hazard where she left it?

D&G dresses my foot who leaves £1000s worth of dresses in a suitcase out of sight of their flat.

Jog on, squirrel lady.

ExitPursuedByABear · 29/05/2014 21:02

Ha ha ha. The cheek.

babybarrister · 29/05/2014 22:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Nappaholic · 29/05/2014 23:11

As you are the freeholder (or one of them), you have a right, nay, a duty, to rectify a hazard when you identify it, which you (or DH) did. Several days later, the offender complains...having had five months to store her stuff safely?

I doubt she'll have a leg to stand on. If she did make a fuss - police or insurers - you have a valid defence/counterclaim, and I doubt it'd go any further. Wait until something actually happens, if it ever does...

captainmummy · 30/05/2014 08:45

She had 5 months to move her 'designer dresses'. You gave her notice that you'd moved the hazard stuff out of the way, in accordance with the lease.
She then left it another 5 days, until it had 'gone missing'.
Not theft.

It sounds like she is trying to tap you for 'compensation', which she hopes you will fork over without legal advice!

If she really has lost anything of value, I'd suggest to her that she tries her insurance. See how far she gets.
But no, you are not liable.

Original poster
NeighbourIssue · 30/05/2014 10:07

Thanks. She didn't come last night but this morning pounced on my husband and daughter as they were leaving for work.

She has not reported to the police as far as we are aware nor asked the council.

If she tries to take us to small claims court so be it. Don't think she has a case Grin
(Joke by DH)

OP posts:
Nerf · 30/05/2014 10:34

Did you tell her where you'd moved it to?
Tbh I think you should have consulted with all the freeholders by letter, and made a joint decision to write and tell her what you would do.
Moving it to the bin cupboard was just asking for the bin men to take it away.

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 30/05/2014 10:41

We and the other flat left multiple notes since December and told her when we saw her in person. she simply ignored it all

It doesn't sound as if she was in the least bit bothered.

Books not squirrels would have been my guess btw.

clam · 30/05/2014 10:52

Apart from the multiple notes asking her to move it, did you actually inform her in writing that YOU had moved it to the cupboard, giving her the opportunity to retrieve it and put it back in the hall before the bin-men came?
Because if you didn't, then that might be where she's thinking there's a loophole in your argument and that she feels she's owed compensation which she can whistle for.

TightyMcTight · 30/05/2014 10:56

Why didn't you move the case so it blocked her front door? Or carry it to her flat, knock on the door and say, "if you don't take this in now I am going to put it in the bin cupboard. It didn't actually cause us any harm but it is a hazard for the future."

Putting it in an unsecured bin cupboard sounds a bit mean regardless of how much she ignored you.

Longtalljosie · 30/05/2014 11:00

Just laugh at her and say what a load of nonsense - and if she leaves thousands of pounds of designer clothes outside her flat in a communal area she's learned a valuable life lesson.

Theft is a criminal matter, not a civil one, so she couldn't sue for compensation for theft. And you didn't steal it.