Is Neighbor Responsible for Property Damages?
My neighbor is doing renovation and his contractor has caused damages to my property. Is my neighbor legally responsible for the damage repair? (He said he didn’t do it and told me to contact whoever did it; and his contractor just simply doesn’t respond to me when I contacted them.)
My neighbor is doing renovation and his contractor has caused damages to my property. Is my neighbor legally responsible for the damage repair? (He said he didn’t do it and told me to contact whoever did it; and his contractor just simply doesn’t respond to me when I contacted them.)
Thanks so much again everyone for your comments and suggestion!
call 311
actually technically its not a business record and its not admissible in court at all. yes small claims courts will accept them- they take anything
if he doesn’t respond to the first neighborly one then a certified one(or any service that reports delivery) is ok but a notarized one is meaningless.
Send VERY detailed letters, notarized AND certified. The two make it a legal document you can use in court if you have to. Check the Department of Buildings website to see if any permits have been filed. Be prepared to roll your sleeves up and play hardball. You can slyly make suggestions about how work without permit fines, as well as lifting stop work orders can get VERY expensive. You can be firm and assertive, without being nasty. Also get as much detailed info about the contractor and contact the Dept of Consumer affairs if there have been any complaints against them. Will only help your case IF you have to go to court. Feel free to file one against them while you’re at it.
calling 311 may get him a violation. part of the requirements of DOB is to safeguard other property during renovations. But that probably won’t help you with this neighbor.
This is what I would write and hand deliver…
Dear Dave:
As I told you recently there has been damage on my property caused by your renovation.
As you suggested I attempted to contact your contractor and he hasn’t responded to me nor has he remedied the problems.
Attached is the list of problems and the estimated amounts to repair them.
I ask that you use your good offices to get your contractor to contact me and make arrangements to remedy the situation.
If you want you can arrange with me to make the repairs or have your insurance company contact me to look at the damages so that they can arrange to compensate me.
We have been good neighbors over the years and I would hate for this to continue to cause problems between us, but unless you take this matter seriously it will unfortunately escalate.
Keep a copy and date and time when you deliver it to him…
Thanks again, smeyer and everyone else! I just feel so frustrated that my neighbor is paying for $500K+ gut-reno, but does not want to be responsible for relatively small amount of damage to me, and I have to spend time, money and effort to try to get the compensation for the damage repair……
if it below your deductible than you have NO claim anyway. They will only pay to the extent(if its covered) that its over the deductible. If you have a claim that exceeds the deductible and they sue and win then and only then will they give you the deductible if they collect it in full….
filing a claim with your own insurance company may do you little good. Generally most policies have a fairly high deductible. If its small(under $5000) they may or may not go after your neighbor but they may cancel you!
and it may not be a covered event anyway.
“My neighbor is doing renovation and his contractor has caused damages to my property. Is my neighbor legally responsible for the damage repair?”
Uh, yeah!
“He said he didn’t do it and told me to contact whoever did it; and his contractor just simply doesn’t respond to me when I contacted them.”
Reminds me of that Shaggy song, ‘Wadn’t me!”. Whudda prick!
Good luck.
***Bid half off peak comps***