Small Claims Court

Anyone have any experience of claiming for damage against a builder (not mine).

I have a feeling I may have to chalk this one down to experience.

Just over a year ago my neighbour came around to ask if he could put scaffolding over my garage because he wanted his roof replaced. The roofer came around and said he had full insurance etc.

The work was done when we were on holiday. I park my van up close to my garage to (for security) and do not use the garage door (it is bolted from the inside).

About 2 months after the roof replacement I was working on my van and had to roll.it away from the garage door, I noticed two large dents with scratches, it is pretty obvious something like a scaffold pole has hit the door, bounced and hit it again.

I told my neighbour who promised to speak to the roofer. This has gone on for a year now. I have finally got the roofer's number but he won't return my calls.

The garage door was only a year old when the damage happened.

I was thinking of going to small claims court but the only evidence I have are the dents themselves.

On to a loser??

Was this the one where the roof in question belonged to some toy house that had been shoe-horned in between / round the back of an existing terrace?

Personally I’d be chasing the neighbour after having got a bunch of quotes for repair.

The roofer will have (probably) used a scaffolding company that may have been separate anyway and they’ll just send you off on a wild goose chase to them.

No, link detached house (was built that way).

Small claims court will be a pain, and cost you more in time and then the builder won't turn up and then you have to employ people to get the money off them.

What I would do is talk to your neighbour, and then pass the bill on to him. Did the neighbour see any copies of proof of any insurance?

Is the van or the garage door damaged?

Garage door is damaged, we were away in the van.

The roofer will have subbed the scaffolding out.

Roofer blames scaff and vice versa. Can you prove who was responsible?

And as pointed out above, an order in your favour is one thing, enforcing it is another.

Speak to your neighbour and ask them to chip in (for dent removal and paint?).

A year after the fact, nothing else seems likely to me.

Isn't a small claims court for when people owe you money? Not to apportion blame or set damages

I successfully took a car sales place to small claims for telling me a car had a warranty when they did not send off the warranty forms (so not sure).

Ok this is going to sound a bit cunty. How friendly are you with your neighbour?

Pass the quotes for repair on to them. As at the end of the day they are liable for the people they employed.

Or go to your insurance and pass it on to them and get their repairer in to fix and sort out who owes them money.

Or just, you know, shit on their doorstep

Frozen sausages etc

Believe me, I have thought about it.

The roofer and/or neighbour will just say "how can you prove the roofing work caused the dent, now you've only found it a year later?" and to be honest they would have a point.

I think you'll have to chalk this up as sore yin, after a year Id say you'll struggle and you'll end up just falling out with the neighbour unless you've already done this.

I also dont think that is a small claims matter as you'll really need to prove it, if you'd came back after the time you were away and clocked it, different story but after a year. Id say nope.

About 2 months after the roof replacement I was working on my van and had to roll.it away from the garage door, I noticed two large dents with scratches,

Even 2 months isn't exactly 5 mins, if the said roofer isn't returning your calls and the next door neighbour isn't going to pay. You can force them so as i said you might have to chalk it up as a loss.

Unless the roofer said in a message they done it, but all they have to do is fold the company and then your back to square one with trying to claim them.

Yeah, it could've been anything. I blame those pesky kids...

I’ve been through small claims to get money back on a bad spray job I had done on a vespa I restored.

The threat of court got money out of the guy but it was stressful and dragged on. Could easily have cost more than I would have gained.

You need to do letters etc to the people responsible, failing all that you have to go to mediation to try get it resolved that way, even so I couldn’t find a mediator for civil disputes and even if i did it would be costly to use them. Failing that you then go to court.

I was lucky that the guy folded and it didn’t cost any more than a few recorded letters.

For the sake of a dent in a door I would just put a sticker over it. I only carried on with mine as the sprayer ruined a huge amount of time and effort on a restoration I was aiming to make concourse and I paid £800 for his super shoddy work. I wouldn’t bother if it was significantly less tbh.

Otherwise call citizens advice for some ideas, they were actually pretty good.

Ive got a vespa for sale if anyone’s interested...