Who’s at fault?

[Daisypod]

If someone build a large outhouse building (wooden) at the end of their garden which backed onto some woodland and in storms a tree fell onto the building causing some damage, who would you say needs to pay for the damage?
Trees are healthy and no sign of disease etc.

The outhouse owner. Obviously.

So the woodland is public land? The owner or their insurance if it covers it.

Nobody is at fault except maybe God. The owner of the outhouse either claims on their insurance or pays for the repairs.

Depends who owns the woodland and trees.

Ok so we own the woodland and it has protection orders on most of the trees, we can’t take them down without proving they are dangerous. Outhouse was built in recent years, woodland has been there for a few hundred at least

So your woodland - is it your outhouse?

Why "obviously"?

If somebody else's tree fell onto my property and caused damage, I would expect them to claim on their insurance to make good the damage.

If your neighbour's tree fell and damaged your property would you just suck it up?

I always thought it was the tree owner but it's not true unless they've been negligent. Only found out after a near miss with our tree and a neighbour's car!

But if you choose to build next to an established woodland would you not take some accountability for the damage as you’ve chosen to build there?

basically you are not liable UNLESS it can be demonstrated that you were negligent in your care of the trees

@Daisypod

I would certainly consider the possibility of damage from fallen trees/root incursion, and would be making enquires to find out who owns/is responsible for the woodland and whether they were liable. Thinking about it, maybe it's not as clear cut as I imagined. I guess that if the woodland was not properly managed (and I'm not saying that is the case here), it is a very different situation to "unforeseen" storm damage.

I am very grumpy today - I'll have a word with myself!

Outhouse owner claims on their own insurance, who may try to claim it from woodland owner. Woodland owner/their insurance fights it, outhouse owner insurance pays out (or refuses to, depending on their policies).

There is plenty of evidence in recent years of very old trees in what appeared to be fine condition upended during periods of bad weather. That will probably be enough for the owner of the outhouse to claim against you. Do you have the trees regularly inspected by an expert?

This. Same as if you have a car accident you go to your insurance who will decide if they can claim against the other persons insurance.

We have had the woodland checked yearly for the last few years. If the damage is underground and can’t be seen then you can’t really tell the trees as there’s no reason to

House owner claims on insurance, who fight it out with insurance company of woodland owner, surely?

In view of everything OP has said this seems obvious to me too; of course, outhouse owner may also want to claim against OP's insurance, but its really for the insurers to decide I would have thought?

You might expect it but you'd be in for a rude awakening.

This is not how it works. Something similar happened to us recently when someone else’s tree fell on to our shed. They are not responsible and their insurance wouldn’t pay unless we could prove the tree had been already noticed to be dead and the landowner knew this and didn’t do anything about it.

it’s up to the owner of the outhouse/shed to claim on their own insurance

Protected trees can be removed if they are dead, dieing or diseased.
They can definitely have work carried out to keep them healthy and/or remove unhealthy sections providing the correct permissions are granted.
If you can prove that the trees have been inspected regularly by a qualified professional and have found to be safe and healthy, then the neighbours/owners of the outhouse don't have much chance of finding you negligent or making you pay.

Yes, it seems I would! Every day's a school day.

out of interest what do your insurance say? I'm assuming it's part of your garden or something so covered if you get them checked every year.

I would have thought they would have to pay/claim off their own insurance. isn't the tree coming down in a storm an act of god?