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Car damaged on landlord property

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  • 13-05-2012 7:05pm
    #1
    sambuka41
    Registered Users Posts: 1,083 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking for a bit of advice, I am having a nightmare of a time with my flat and the letting agents. We have had a load of problems, no heat, mold, leaking bathroom, some have been resolved some have not.

    But this evening to really kick us while we are down, the new bin from the front of the house has blown across the garden and crashed into the back of my car, smashing the back window.:mad: It is an old house with 9 apartments in it, anyone can park in the area out the front, I am the only one with a car.

    Would this accident be covered by the landlords insurance? I only have third party insurance, but I don't feel like I should have to pay for this. The bin that was there previously was a metal, industrial size, but this one is much smaller and plastic so it was able to be blown across. I think they changed it last week. I need my car for work, and I am really broke (mainly from having to pay to run electric heaters as we were left without heat for 2 months)

    Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. :o


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    #2
    bennyineire
    Registered Users Posts: 2,475 ✭✭✭bennyineire


    Yeah, suck it up, **** happens and it was no ones fault , just bad luck mate


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    #3
    athtrasna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,420 ✭✭✭✭athtrasna


    Alas the landlord has no liability here. Windscreen cover often comes standard with all insurance policies so worth looking into but it's not the landlord's fault your car was there and the bin blew into it.


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    #4
    Tigger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,705 ✭✭✭✭Tigger


    whose bin and who put it there?


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    #5
    sambuka41
    Registered Users Posts: 1,083 ✭✭✭sambuka41


    Its the bin for the whole building/house,its an old converted house, everyone uses it. Like I said it used to be a large metal bin, like the ones for shops but now its a smaller version, and its plastic. They obviously wanted to save on the cost of the bin lifts.

    I've just had a lot of bad dealings with the letting agents, and this has just pushed me over the edge :( I was really hoping that they would be responsible, surely he has to have insurance for the main building and garden areas?


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    #6
    Umpalumpa
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭Umpalumpa


    Same thing happened me a few years back.bin rolled into my front bumper when I was living in an apartment block.I rang my insurance company and they said it just comes down to an accident where by no one is to blame.

    Best advice is to pay fir the window yourself.Pay the extra next year and get fully comp


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    #7
    Tigger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,705 ✭✭✭✭Tigger


    sambuka41 wrote: »
    Its the bin for the whole building/house,its an old converted house, everyone uses it. Like I said it used to be a large metal bin, like the ones for shops but now its a smaller version, and its plastic. They obviously wanted to save on the cost of the bin lifts.

    I've just had a lot of bad dealings with the letting agents, and this has just pushed me over the edge :( I was really hoping that they would be responsible, surely he has to have insurance for the main building and garden areas?

    Someone must own it even if it's the management company


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    #8
    fasttalkerchat
    Registered Users Posts: 5,652 ✭✭✭fasttalkerchat


    You may have a case by arguing that the bin was not properly secured if you took it to a small claims court but if its your landlord and not a council flat that's pushing it a bit.


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    #9
    Tigger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,705 ✭✭✭✭Tigger


    No it isn't
    If a big if the building fell on his car he'd have a case
    If the bin has a place then That place should be secure


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    #10
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    Typically the block insurance landlords have on buildings specifically exclude damage to occupier's vehicles. You may however be able to make some form of claim (or take action) if insufficient care was taken to secure the bin.


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    #11
    athtrasna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,420 ✭✭✭✭athtrasna


    leeroybrown wrote: »
    Typically the block insurance landlords have on buildings specifically exclude damage to occupier's vehicles. You may however be able to make some form of claim (or take action) if insufficient care was taken to secure the bin.

    Why should the bin be secured? Do you secure your own bin? Did the OP take care to park in an area which was out of the way of such accidents? Did another tenant/the waste company move the bin? No way is the landlord liable.


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    #12
    fasttalkerchat
    Registered Users Posts: 5,652 ✭✭✭fasttalkerchat


    athtrasna wrote: »
    Why should the bin be secured? Do you secure your own bin? Did the OP take care to park in an area which was out of the way of such accidents? Did another tenant/the waste company move the bin? No way is the landlord liable.

    If I don't secure my car by putting up the handbrake and it rolls into a building I can be sued for that damage.


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    #13
    nxbyveromdwjpg
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,402 ✭✭✭nxbyveromdwjpg


    Its not the landlords fault the wind blew


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    #14
    athtrasna
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,420 ✭✭✭✭athtrasna


    fasttalkerchat wrote: »
    If I don't secure my car by putting up the handbrake and it rolls into a building I can be sued for that damage.

    Yes - different case. Only you don't secure your car. The landlord did not put the bin where it was. It's also likely that the landlord doesn't even own the bin, they tend to remain the property of the waste companies.


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    #15
    leeroybrown
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,563 ✭✭✭leeroybrown


    athtrasna wrote: »
    Why should the bin be secured? Do you secure your own bin? Did the OP take care to park in an area which was out of the way of such accidents? Did another tenant/the waste company move the bin? No way is the landlord liable.
    I was speaking hypothetically. I agree that the landlord was probably not at fault and it's unlikely the OP has any way of recovering the money.


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