Next door caused damage in my roof

[ilovemilton]

Next door had a new roof fitted. When I went up my loft a few weeks later, I had to prise my loft open as it was covered in rubble, which then showered the whole landing space, damaging furniture and ornaments, as well as causing a massive clean up operation.

The new roof from next door actually covers about a metre of my roof, and about half the loft is covered in a good six inches of dust and rubble.
The light fittings no longer work and quite a few items stored have been damaged.

I called the company that I saw competing the works, who said that even though I saw their vans, the men were working in their own time and nothing to do with the company. They can't give me their details.

Is there anything that I can do? I'm reluctant to claim on my house insurance as none of this was my fault.

Have you spoken to your neighbour about it? Surely it should be their insurance you claim in, not yours.

Your neighbour's or the builder's insurance should pay. Do you have legal cover on your home insurance?

If they are refusing to pay, it is possible your legal cover may agree to fund proceedings to recover your losses.

Take pictures of everything damaged and make sure you keep a record of everything which has been affected by the work next door.

contact your insurance company, they should send an assessor around and they will take up a claim against the people who damaged your property.

You need to talk to your neighbour before anything else
They will either need to claim from the builder or on their own insurance

Before you go, I'd have some pics to show them and also a list of repairs.
Sorry this happened, stuff like this is so annoying.

Have you had rain? I'm just wondering if you're sure of the extent of the damage.

Thanks for all your replies. The neighbours aren't friendly and fall out about anything they can.

The builders themselves were horrendous when they were there, broken tiles falling all over my conservatory and garden, all their takeaways thrown into my garden, blocking my drive with their vans and refusing to move. Nightmare all round!!

Will contact my insurance and see what they say. Thank you.

Oh dear
I hope it works out okay.

I think you will need to speak to a solicitor as this is a Party Wall Act issue and you are protected under the act and under trespass laws for works neighbours carry out which effect and damage your property.

I contacted my insurance and they said this wasn't covered, as it was caused by next door. I either have to speak to them and get them to agree to claim, or claim on the company.

I contacted the company that I saw completing the work and they said the builder was working out of hours, so it was nothing to do with the company or their insurance.

Very annoyed since trying to use the loft for Christmas storage has been a complete nightmare. Can't get up the loft without being showered with rubble and everything up there is filthy! There's also signs of loose tiles now.

Won't they show you an invoice- that will price the company is responsible

Sounds like you're going to need a strongly worded letter from a solicitor spelling out that your neighbour is responsible for the damage their builders have caused. Let them pursue the builders for it. Not your problem.

You need a solicitor. As someone else said, this is covered by the party wall act but it's too late for that now. You have to claim through the courts for damage. Depending how much the damage will cost to repair you could do small claims.

Have you still not actually spoken to your neighbours? I can't see how you can expect to avoid discussing it with them.

Get someone up onto the roof to remove the tiles that are covering your roof space.

Possibly warn your neighbour that's what you are going to do if they don't fix the issue.

It is of course possible that the company did the work to your neighbour's roof as a cash job, hence there are no invoices.

Assuming you have legal expenses cover, use that to fund legal representation and sue your neighbour, the builder, and their employee who did the work. One of those 3 will be liable.