So I get back from my holiday and find that the roofing felt from the neighbours garage has blown off.

It landed in my garden and the gravel from the felt has scratched my windows and the plastic frames.

Her house is run down and she really doesn't give a damn about it at all. Frankly her front and rear gardens are an embarrassment, that's how much she doesn't care. I'm really hacked off.

I knocked her door a few times yesterday but she didnt answer the door. I know she was in as you can hear her from indoors (thin walls) and I also spotted her peeking through the blinds on one occasion. She also left the house a few minutes after I knocked yesterday evening. Strange behaviour.

I have a scanned copy of the signed letter and the envelope.

I hand delivered a letter yesterday, posted it through the door. I also took a video of the envelope and then me posting it through the door to mitigate any claims from her that she didn't receive it.

I have a feeling that this isn't going to be straightforward.

I want the windows fixed and I also want the ton of roofing felt removed from my small garden.

I could make a claim on my insurance but dont want to lose my no claims, or foot the bill for the excess tbh!

I'm thinking that I'll give her a few days and then write to her again if I havent heard anything, advising her that I will proceed with a claim and hold her liable for any costs incurred.

Anyone had experience of this kind of thing and suggest the best way to get it resolved with the least impact for me?

send her a recorded delivery/signed for letter in afew days so you have proof that she received the letter to start with .

Keep a diary, admissible as evidence in court
As Nismo says recorded delivery letter, although i believe a proof of posting receipt is sufficient
Decide how far you are willing to go as courts can get stupidly expensive
My neighbours restricted my access to my right of way, then took ME to court for "actionable Nuisance" (he was doing a degree course in law and thought he could do it himself)took 13 months in court and cost THEM £26,000 yes £26,000 but of course they had no money so there is a charging order on their property! and nothing can repay anxiety, worry and stress!!!
Luckily my house insurance took on the case and payed for it but they are quite picky with what the will do

To be honest the biggest thing you need to decide is can you put up living next door to such people! we moved to get away as even though we won in court They were assholes before (thought they were better than anybody else)and even bigger ones afterwards
Just think about the long term before you get to carried away

I believe you can have the council force repairs and maintenance if her house is now dangerous to the public. Doesn't help you immediately, but should mitigate future surprise.

Well she popped over this evening, so she must have received the letter

It was an awkward conversation and whilst she apologised verbally she was reluctant to accept responsibility.

She said that whilst it *may* have been the felt from her garage, she didnt scratch the glass herself. I'm not sure where her logic was founded but I disagreed and suggested she contacted her insurance company.

She said she will pop over to discuss tomorrow after work, and to pick up the ton of felt that is in the garden.

I said to her that I didn't want to be out of pocket due to something that has occurred to me, and that if there was any disagreement I would refer this to my insurers that would pursue her for the claim - and that I would be seeking recompense of my excess as I didnt consider this to be a fault claim on my side.

We shall see what happens. I'm not impressed by her reluctance, but I will do what is necessary. I have full legal cover etc on the house insurance so will leave it to them to slug it out if necessary - but I'm not keeping bloody scratched windows!

A roof tile fell off my house in high winds and smashed through next doors Ford Fiesta front windscreen, I felt guilty as it came from my house but when I called the house insurance to see if they would pay for it, they just said "that's why they have car insurance, it's nothing to do with us".

I offered to pay the excess on the car insurance claim but she said it didn't matter and thanks for trying.

Maybe you could come to an amicable agreement like that?

Well maybe.

She popped round and was reluctant to accept responsibility which was irksome. She suggested that as it was the felt from the roof and not her that scratched the windows...

She also didnt seem too convinced that it was felt from her roof, despite the fact that it couldnt have come from anywhere else and that the felt from her garage roof is now missing...!

We shall see.

I may see how much replacement glass for the windows is, Im sure it will be relatively cheap.

Will it not polish out?

no chance, theyre quite deep scratches

I've been looking at options re changing the glass, may work out cheaper...

An insurance company trying to avoid paying - surely not.

It really depends on the policy. Some do include cover for injury or loss for third parties which would include this situation but its by no means standard.

I once managed to remove quite a deep scratch from the rear quarter window of an old estate. Took a bottle of glass polish from Halfords and some elbow grease, but it worked. Might be worth a shot to save the aggravation.

I'm not very sure about the legal position in this circumstance. Is she responsible for damage to your property?

I believe it would fall under third party liability?

I expect you may have to end up claiming in your insurance who would then try to reclaim from her insurance.

Something which may help your case is to document the condition of her property as it would help to prove lack of maintenance which could be a contributing factor. I would take as many pictures of both the damage to your house, the felt in your garden and her house as possible to aid with this. This may also help to prove its from her roof.

has she picked up the felt? if so could this be taken as a addmition of liability?

good question. i want to try and avoid claiming through my insurance due to the excess and the no claims position, over something that need not be expensive to rectify.

it was the felt from her garage roof that flew off.

her garage roof was already in disrepair, with large holes in it where the chipboard had collapsed.

if her garage roof had been in a better state, perhaps the wind would not have caught the felt and it would have stuck to the roof of the garage.

with regards admission of liability, she has been a bit more guarded in that respect, although yesterday she did say that she bought some rubble bags to put the felt in (i have told her I wanted it disposed of).

i looked into the price of changing the glass, and it works out at about 70 quid, with me doing the replacement. as long as the scrapes on the pvc can be buffed out im not particularly worried. so i *may* jfdi, but it would have been nice to have received a meaninful apology from her, regardless of the cost of repair

lets see what happens.