Tree fell on the house

[Dumptytree]

Wisdom greatly appreciated, not sure if it should be here on in legal.

We have a neighbour to our right, claire, and behind her is a neighbour adam. We dont have any neighbours directly behind us. Adam had a large, mature tree in the back of his garden which he gave permission for Claire to cut down along with some other smaller trees to allow for more light in her garden.

Claire arranged for someone to come who does not appear to be an insured tree surgeon but a builder friend who cut down the tree with a chainsaw. My uncle is in this line of work so confirmed it was done incorrectly and dangerously.

The tree fell into my garden. Luckily it missed the house but broke the fence post, damaged several plants and bushes and a small, old wooden shed and guttering

Claire and builder immediately came round and everyone was very nice about, promised to clear the tree and make good the damage. To his credit builder stayed very late to clear a large section of trunk but that and all branches are still in our garden. We were going to replace tool shed anyway, it was ancient so only needed guttering and fence doing.

He didnt appear the next day to clear it. We chased and he said sorry you misunderstood I was going to come back when I have the materials to make good the damage. Again, I've checked with someone who knows and everything they would need is same day click and collect at b&q. We said we need the tree gone as its damaging plants and means most of our garden is inaccessible please confirm when youll be able to come. They have refused to commit to any dates and lied about being told something was fine when they were directly told the opposite (in writing).

We have not seen Claire in over a week and cannot get hold of her, she wont reply. Adam is on holiday and we dont have his contact details so not sure what he knows.

We now dont trust builder man and want to get our trusted tradespeople to do it and pass on the cost. Do we have to give him the chance to make good? If we need to take action is it against Claire who arranged it, builder who did a bad job or poor adam who's tree it is?

In Wales if that makes any difference legally.

Had something similar ….. You will probably have to claim on your house insurance and the insurance will try and claim it back from your neighbour. My gardeners damaged a neighbour’s pipe, their insurance contacted me ( sent me a bill in fact) and I told them to take it up with my gardener.

Your claim is against Claire who arranged and presumably paid for the removal. I'd be putting a formal letter through her door giving her a deadline to arrange for the removal of all the damaged items, which needs to be pretty quick, say 7 days. Then a longer deadline for putting things right, say 14 days. Threaten legal action if it's not done. The time for being patient and nice has long gone!

Claire in turn has a claim against the builder as she contracted him.

I think you need to contact your house insurance

Thanks everyone, reassuring to hear everyones thoughts. Agree re insurance, they were just so lovely when it first happened and did seem genuine in their desire to make right. Im one of the people that looks up when someone says there's naive written on the ceiling.

Did the builder agree with Claire that he would remove the trees he felled? If so he should remove them from wherever they fell.

That needs to be done before he repairs the damage. So it matters not whether he has the equipment for the repairs. I agree with @taxguru that you should write a formal letter to Claire.

It’s possible that the builder had left ‘Claire’ in the lurch too, because I suppose he knows that if it isn’t done it’s her problem as your insurance will contact her insurance to try to redress the costs, and not his.
But yes, go via your insurance. Maybe let her know you’re going to have to do this to give one last chance to put it right. How long has it been there?

Call your insurer. I had similar with a neighbour where they were doing building work and their builder damaged my property. My insurer said that the builder that did the damage was liable. Whether they have insurance or not doesn't change who is liable, just the ability to get damages.

I couldn't get the builder's details from the the workman on site or from the arsehole neighbour. In that case my insurer said that they would then chase the neighbour and their insurer. The time required from me wasn't worth pursuing for the cost of the repairing the damage caused.