Boarding up costs following break in

[detectall]

I wondered if anyone could give advice on the following.

 

We went away over the bank holiday weekend (first trip away in 14 months). Friday 30 April departed, Sunday afternoon, phone call from son to inform us that the house had been broken into (back door kicked in and TV etc stolen)on Saturday 1 May and that the back door had been boarded over and there was a hand written note from the police on the kitchen table.

 

Fast forward to today and I have just received a letter from a company containing an invoice for a total of £150.40 inc vat...... nearly fell over when I saw the amount.

 

I have very little income as my self employed work has been very little since I was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. To make matters worse I am not covered by insurance as I could not afford the premiums.

 

I don't know who requested the boarding up.

 

What if anything can I do about this. I am not against being charged for the door being boarded but I do think that the amount is extortionate. I expected a bill of around £50.00 to £70.00 max.

 

Any idea's or info would be appreciated as this is very worrying.

 

Paul.

[loopinlouie]

Might find it was the police and it is a standard fee. I would think you would have to pay it, I mean they couldnt leave it unboarded and perhaps dont have the time to compare prices. Considering call out must have been a proportion I dont think that ammount is to high considering what happened. But can understand due to circumstances you could ask to try to get them to let you pay it by installments.

 

I had problem with locksmith, offererd him 10.00 week till paid and was accepted, although he said a lot of people offer these terms on low incomes and dont pay them. I did and he sent a thank you card, so although might be a litle annoyed at delay in payment, its not something you can help.

[flyingdr]

Not too bad a cost if you consider they have to use materials, labour and Fuel. As loopinlouie suggested try talking to them to see if they can reduce the amount or offer to pay in instalments. They can't really say no.

[buzby]

Have to agree... faced with coming back and finding your house empty - it's a pretty good deal. Of course, if you had insurance this cost would have been covered by them as part of the policy, so sadly you are in no bargaining position, except possibly insurance isn;t the luxury you thought it was. The trouble now is you need to disclose there has been a break in, and this may cause the premiums to be higher, even though you never claimed.

[Aequitas]

If you own property you simply must insure it.

[flyingdr]

If you own property you simply must insure it.

 

Can you clarify what you mean? if you mean 'would be mad not to' I'd agree

 

If it's mortgaged then it will be a condition of the mortgage to have buildings cover, not necessarily home contents.

 

If it's your own building with no mortgage then there is no legal requirement to have it insured.