Dropped a pole on the neighbour’s roof?

Dropped a pole on the neighbour’s roof?

14:36 PM, 24th August 2021, About 3 years ago 13

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I am currently carrying out renovations to our property and took on a contractor who in turn subcontracted scaffold to a scaffolder. As the scaffolder was dismantling the scaffold, he accidentally dropped a pole on the neighbour’s roof. The roof being 100 years old, the tiles were brittle and some broke.

The Neighbour wants me to compensate him. However, I believe it is the legal duty of the scaffolder who committed the negligence or error.

The scaffolder agreed to come along with a mate who is a roofer to replace roof tiles, but the neighbour insists on a qualified roofer with trade qualifications and insurance, and pressing for a whole new roof unless exact matching tiles are put on, which is impossible because 100-year-old tiles fade in colour, and anyway manufacturers from time to time bring out slightly different colours.

Can anyone offer any advice, please?

Don


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Seething Landlord

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21:54 PM, 25th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Does anybody ever read their insurance policy? Every liability section has a condition saying do not admit liability, do not negotiate, refer any claim from a third party to us.

Your neighbour has rejected the scaffolder's attempt to resolve the matter informally so it is now up to him to make the running, get his roof repaired and endeavour to recover the cost from you or whoever else is legally liable.

Notify your insurers of the situation and let them handle it on your behalf.

Joe Armstrong

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23:07 PM, 25th August 2021, About 3 years ago

Leaving aside all the liability stuff, two things occur to me regarding the actual tiles: One: I'd be very surprised if old tiles of that style can't be found via architectural reclamation yards or websites (like Salvo) and two: Is your neighbour saying that if he had a tile come off and shatter, he'd replace his ENTIRE roof because he couldn't find a similarly aged replacement?

Accommod8

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8:37 AM, 28th August 2021, About 3 years ago

As a former roofing contractor, by way of an example, if you're replacing a few broken clay "Rosemary"tiles of a 100 year old roof with a Northern elevation ( less sun), even with cat ladders and crawling boards or scaffold access to say a chimney stack, you can easily break another 50 or more in the process of reaching the affected area, whilst taking the utmost care.

It therefore is not necessarily to be taken as read that a few tiles can effectively be replaced, rather than an incident like that triggering the justified replacement of an entire roof pitch or more to retain an integral roof colour.

This is not a judgement of the neighbour's motivation.

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