Damage caused by negligence of property agent

[axil23]

Ok will do. Are these companies instructed by the Insurance company or the owner himself? Just wondering why he would pay them money to defend rather just settle the £600. 

 

[dx100uk]

his inc co will have instructed them.

just dont let them knock you down.

[axil23]

Thank you. Will keep you posted. 

If I get my money back I will 100% be giving a contribution to this site? You all have been fantastic.  

Edited January 11 by axil23

[dx100uk]

what time limit did you give in your PAPLOC before you will launch your court claim?

it might be worthy to inc a note that says something to the fact that you will NOT be delaying the raising of your court claim if matters do not move forward swiftly and without any unnecessary delays/wrangling upon liability, cost and rectification issues?

[axil23]

I gave them 30 days.  Will add the note, thanks for that. 

[axil23]

So the time given on the PAPLOC is up. The last I heard from the Insurance company was a few days ago when they were asking about what exactly happened. Their last response was that they will go back to the insured. 

What should I do next? 

Should I email the agent (LL) to given them one final chance to make payment or I will issue claim?  

 

[lolerz]

Did you make it clear like dx said that you would not delay your court claim?

If so, as PAPLOC has expired you should be looking to start your court claim via MCOL. The site admins are more knowledgeable than me on the specifics here so await their input

[axil23]

Yeah I specifically pointed that out at the start to the Insurance company.

[axil23]

Hey guys. What should I do next? Give LL another warning that I will issue claim next week? 

From the communication that I have had with the Insurance company my feeling is that they won't cover it as it wasn't an accident and could have been avoided if leak was fixed in a timely manner.

[lolerz]

Do not enter into silly and pointless letter tennis with the landlord.

 

Get drafting a particulars of claim similar to post 13 of the below thread. There are also countless other threads on here to use as inspiration.

Use the information we've discussed here to support your case.

Once you've drafted it, post it here and we'll have a look.

 

Remember when drafting the 1080 character limit on MCOL! 

[axil23]

Perfect. Will draft over weekend and post here. 

Just out of interest do I still keep on using the agents address considering I don't have the LL's for the MCOL. 

[lolerz]

You have it in writing that you should serve it to the letting agent and that it would be forwarded to them. That should be deemed as acceptable by the courts.

However, do not place it as "care of" when submitting via MCOL. Address it to the landlord directly.

Upload your particulars of claim here FIRST before dealing with MCOL

[axil23]

Can't seem to get it below the character count. Am I giving too much information here? 

 

Quote

Particulars Of Claim

 

Item Declared: Repairs for damage to fallen ceiling

Total claim £600 

Claimants flat is a tyneside flat with the defendants flat directly above his. The ceiling fell down in the claimants bathroom after a constant leak  from the defendants bathroom above which lasted 9 days before it was eventually fixed.

The claimant only point of contact is the defendants letting agent who manages his property. The leak was reported to them in the following timeline.

 9th October - Leak reported via phone call to defendants letting agent and followed up with email.

10th October - email reminder sent at 232pm

12th - 16th October - 3 phone calls made to defendants agent to chase up. No update received.

14th October - Ceiling falls down at claimants property due to the leak

17th October - Received email from the defendants letting agent stating that their employee had left the company hence why nothing has been done so far.

17th October - Claimant sent email at 5pm to ask for an update. No reply

18th October - Claimant sent email asking for an urgent update as leak still ongoing at 1203pm.

18th October - Received email from defendants letting agent that leak resolved at 5pm.

20th October - Sent email to defendants letting agent to ask who will fix the damage and was advised that a quote was sent to defendant for approval.

20th October - 2nd Nov - Various emails exchanged with letting agent to check on update on works to repair ceiling. Advised waiting defendants approval.

2nd Nov - Got email from defendants Insurance advisor to say they will not be claiming on his insurance as it was an unforeseen event and it wasn’t due to negligence.

The defendant has refused to reimburse the claimant directly for the full amount.

The claimant seeks the value of that it took to get the repairs done and bring the property back into a habitable condition of £600

 

[honeybee13]

Hi.

What you've posted reads more like a Witness Statement (WS) which comes later in the process. What you have should still come in useful later.

As I understand it, you're doing POCs at the moment?

HB

 

[axil23]

So what information should I put in the POC. Just that the ceiling fell and that I am claiming the set amount? 

[lolerz]

A POC is essentially just what you're claiming for. You don't need to go into too much detail. It's nothing more than a factual description of events and why you're claiming.

I would rephrase this to something like:

 

Quote

Item Declared: Repairs for damage to fallen ceiling

Total claim £600 

The claimant's flat is a Tyneside flat with the defendant's flat directly above his. 

The claimant reported a leak coming from the defendant's demise on 09/10/2023.

Despite multiple reminders, repairs to rectify the issue were not carried out promptly.

On 14/10/2023, the ceiling of the claimant's property collapsed due to damage from the leak and negligence from the defendant's agent.

On 09/11/2023, the claimant arranged for a repair of their ceiling. 

The claimant served the invoice for the damage to the defendant's letting agent on XX

The defendant has refused to reimburse the claimant directly for the full amount.

The claimant seeks the value of £600 that it took to get the repairs done and bring the property back into a habitable condition.

The details (emails, a full timeline etc) will come later IF it gets to the Witness Statement stage (which is likely going to be 1-2 months away at the earliest!)

That POC comes in to 815 characters so still some room to tweak should I have missed anything

You should also check the dates etc to make sure they match with the actual timeline of events (I've just gone off what's on here so far, please change them as required)

Edited February 4 by lolerz
Final Line

[axil23]

That is very kind of you to draft the letter. Thank you. 

I realised the one I was busy drafting while you posted this was wrong again. 

Final. Please advise if missing anything. 

Quote

Item Declared: Repairs for damage to fallen ceiling

Total claim £600 

The claimant's flat is a Tyneside flat with the defendant's flat directly above his. 

The claimant reported a leak coming from the defendant's demise on 09/10/2023.

Despite multiple reminders, repairs to rectify the issue were not carried out promptly.

On 14/10/2023, the ceiling of the claimant's property collapsed due to damage from the leak and negligence from the defendant's agent.

On 18/11/2023, the claimant arranged for a repair of their water leak. 

On 2/11/2023 The defendants Insurance agent advised claimant via email that the defendant will not be getting the work done to rectify the damages to claimants bathroom.

The claimant served the invoice for the damage to the defendant's letting agent on 17/11/2023.

The claimant seeks the value of £600 that it took to get the repairs done and bring the property back into a habitable condition.

 

Edited February 4 by axil23

[lolerz]

Looks good to me, just one date where the water leak was repaired I think is meant to be 18/10/2023 not 18/11/2023

If you're happy with it, submit it on MCOL tomorrow once you're 100% sure about the rest of the details (MCOL is usually down for maintenance on weekends)

I believe the fee for submitting the claim is £70, you'll get this back as part of the judgment if you win

[lolerz]

It will also be worth keeping the line "The defendant has refused to reimburse the claimant directly for the full amount." at the end of the timeline.

[axil23]

Good catch. Changed the date to 18/10 

Have added in the final line at the bottom. 

Thank you so much for your help. Will submit this tomorrow. 

MCOL is open today and I was filing in the claim and on the final 2 steps it says

Briefly explain your claim - Which I have put the above in. 

Next option is timeline of events.

In this shall I add the full time line as I posted above. 

[dx100uk]

yes

[lolerz]

Did this get submitted ok on MCOL?

[axil23]

Yes. It was issued earlier this morning. 

Thank you for your assistance yesterday. It was appreciated. Will update when I hear further. 

[lolerz]

Excellent.

Important dates now are the 24th February for them to submit their AOS.

9th March is the deadline for their defence should they choose to do that on their AOS.

 

IF they fail to meet either of those dates you can file for judgement.

[AndyOrch]

Did you tick yes to Interest sec 69@8% ?