Personal Injury Claim

[SummerSunshine2023]

I live in a private rented property and pay my rent through a letting agency. The kitchen door has a full length glass panel and wooden frame. My 14 year old child closed the kitchen door and their hand went straight through the glass. My child received five stitches to their finger. Can I make a personal injury claim for my child.

I mean you probably could make one in theory but I can’t imagine it’s going anywhere. What loss are you claiming for? I once stubbed my toe on a kitchen table in a rented place, didn’t ever cross my mind to seek recompense from the landlord.

Did she lose her finger? Have permanent nerve damage?
Or is it just a cut?
If the latter, then probably no point putting in a claim.

Was the door faulty? Was the landlord aware?

Was it safety glass?

If you make a personal injury claim against your LL's insurers and their policy goes up, they might evict you because you're costing them extra money (excess on insurance claim, more expensive policy for years to come). Are you prepared to let that happen?

I had a glass shower door shatter into a thousand pieces over me once, and I ended up in A&E. My landlord gave me £50. (this was about 20 years ago).

Unless there's permanent damage I don't think it's worth pursuing. Perhaps stress to the agent how terrifying it was and they might give you a bit of compensation.

Thankyou all, for taking the time to reply to this post. The kitchen door was installed when the house was built around 1960’s. The door was a 4mm pane of glass with a 10cm wooden frame so definitely not safety glass. The door was not faulty, I just feel for safety regulations it was a hazard, and an accident waiting to happen and the door should have been replaced before someone was injured.

You have just proved you dont have strong case for a large payout.
The door will have met the building regs when installed and was not by your words faulty and been there since you moved in.
I am guessing that the reason that your 14 year old's hand went through the glass is that they were not using the handle attached to the wooden part?

As others said you could sue but 5 stiches to close a cut without any long term damage ... what cash value would you place on that.

Did your child slam the door, out of interest?

Sounds pretty scary although it also sounds like it was old enough not to need to be safety glass. You'd have to prove that the landlord is negligent for letting out the house in that state (although ask on the legal section) and therefore injury was foreseeable.
There's a big gap between the building regs and a reasonable level of safety.
Hope your child makes a good recovery in the end.

You’ll have to prove negligence or that the landlord was aware of a faulty item but didn’t replace it. Neither of these will apply here in my view though I’m not a lawyer.

Oooh this is interesting. I slid down a very uneven step in the garden to my privately rented flat. Letting agent verbally discribed it as hazardous when I viewed but being an able bodied 30 something I just poo-poo'd it.

6 months later the inevitable happened and I slide off said step landing in such a way that I dislocated my ankle and shattered my lower leg in so many pieces that the my consultant described it as a fractured he would expect to see on a battle field or following a car crash. He wrote 'very serious break' on my notes should I wish to claim. I have been left with a life changing injury, intermittant pain, a constant limp, neoropathic pain due to the metal they had to put in my leg that cannot now be removed. Huge loss of earnings from my self employment and although I have gradually gone back to it, I cannot take on as much work as I would like otherwise I am unable to walk without crutches for the days that follow. No compensation offered from landlord... nothing. After painful nights where I am unable to sleep I often think is it worth claiming?!

Im gussing that if her hand went through the glass then she must have been pushing the door shut by pushing on the glass and not the wood or handle ?

I have facial scars from going face first through a door like that at the same age... I didn't even get sympathy never mind compensation and mine is across the middle of my face and still a clear deep scar 20 years on.

In the US people sue because frequently they don't have health insurance and have to pay several thousand dollars to go to an ER and have stitches put in followed by physiotherapy and other after care.

I don't know what you would be suing for here as you haven't suffered a financial loss unless your child has suffered permanent damage to their hand.

You could sue to make a point if the glass was supposed to be safety glass and wasn't, but the landlord could also point out that your child must have pushed the door on the glass pane quite hard to send their hand through it.