Personal Property Advice Required

Charlie Bravo

Charlie Bravo

Charlie Bravo

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,809
Location
Chelmsford
Ok, in November of 2009 I moved into a 5 bed house with live in landlords. I paid a £500 deposit, signed a contract and pay £425 rent for the room and use of shared facilities.

I informed them before I moved in that I had a motorbike and they said I could keep it in the garage although the garage was full of crap and they would clear it out for me.

3 months later, the garage was left untouched so I went in and cleared a large enough space for my bike. The bike was rolled in and everyone was happy.


Fast forward to 2 weekends ago (Saturday 7th Aug), the landlady asks me if I can move my bike out of the garage on the 8th so they can clear it out as they are getting worried that my bike may get damaged. I agree stating that I'm going out on a ride that day anyway.
I wheel the bike out of the garage to clean it only to find that it's already damaged down the right hand side.
I approach the landlady and ask which side of my bike the landlords son gets his BMX out from. The right hand side was the response. I then showed her the damage to the bellypan (scraped/paint removed) and she said we'll pay for it and get it sorted.
It is only after this that I start to notice other scrapes on the front fork, the frame and the engine.

On Monday 9th, I took the bike to a Yamaha dealer for a quote to repair the damage. Today the quote arrived and it totalled £1380.87.

The landlady has washed her hands of it stating she doesn't want to get involved and has instead left it with the landlord. This is where it gets interesting. Please stay with me...

I have tonight, shown him the damage and given him the quote. He has informed me that I'm taking the **** chucking a £1300 quote at him and whilst he is prepared to help me with the costs, there is no way he is paying £1300. He stated "you elected to park the bike in the garage and therefore you have to accept that something might happen to it. If the bike was on the drive and I put the bins out and scraped it at the same time then you would also have to accept responsibility as you chose to park it there.
In response I informed him that the bike was parked in the garage with his permission and he said yes but it was full of crap. And so the arguement goes on...


Where do I stand guys? He wants me to claim on my insurance and I've refused.
 
If his actions resulted in your bike getting damaged (i.e. he bumped into it with his bike) then it's nothing other than his fault and they should pay up.
 
It sounds like morally you are in the right, however I have absolutely no idea about the legal position. I know little of motorbikes, but £1300 worth of damage seems a lot. Are you suggesting that the son has scraped it getting his BMX out, or is it more serious and it has been knocked over?
 
You're in the right, but if you want to get the money out of him then you may as well combine it with moving out. I know I wouldn't want to stick around after that.
 
Moredhel said:
Sounds like he's in the right tbh, you chose to park it there, your problem?
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Inside the garage? Sorry, but that's where you put your car/bike to keep it away from potential risk factors.

Although I can't really understand why you left it locked up for more than half a year. Not that it's particularly pertinent to the case, but you would have noticed the damage sooner, when it was perhaps lighter, though that doesn't help you much now.

As far as I can tell, the landlady has all but admitted fault on her son's part and it's their responsibility if he's a minor, or his if he's not. And +1 to moving out at the same time. Your deposit should be protected too, but I'd make sure everything is perfect before leaving, just in case.
 
Legally its a tortious claim thus you would have to prove u were own a duty of care. Could probably be established but would be like getting blood out of a stone and thus costly unless under a CFA.
Probs best to go through insurance, although he probs should insure against this sort of risk however bit of a complicated area where resident landlords are concerned. This is also the case for deposit as I dont think they need to be protected (unless things have changed since iv done this area of law?)

BA :)
 
Any pics of this £1300 damage that you didn't immediately notice? A quoted £1300 repair makes it seem quite substantial, so your vagueness about seeing this damage is confusing me somewhat.
 
I can see his point.

You should have shopped around and got a better quite, it looks like you are trying to milk the situation.

Is it in your contract that you have use of the garage?

You should have really taken better care or not put the bike in the garage if you thought it was at risk of being damaged.

Why dont you both try come to a reasonable agreement, ie fix the obvious noticeable damage in a cheaper body shop.
 
£1300 is definitely main dealer prices. It wouldn't cost anywhere near that to repair it to an acceptable standard using other means.
 
Take it somewhere cheaper and show you're making the effort to keep the cost down. He said he is prepared to help with the costs, if you can get lower he might pay most the money and you can both accept it as a lesson learned.
 
Well a small update for you. I have been riding the bike all year, it hasn't been parked up. The bike was last ridden 3 weeks prior to me finding the damage. I also took photos of the bike that day and having inspected them, there is no damage present.

They have now denied having said they would pay for and sort the problem and have said they did not in fact give me permission to park the bike in the garage. I therefore asked why they didn't ask me to move it back into the garden to which the reply was because we thought we would manage as it was.

Anyway, having denied any responsibility, they are saying that if I can get a cheaper quote then they are willing to help on the house insurance.

Just been having a chat with the other housemate and he tells me that the ladnlady said to him that she had no problems with my bike being in the garage.

On a slightly different note, they've now said that they haven't checked their BT bills since last year and they've been charged for exceeding the broadband limit of 10gb for which they are not prepared to pay. Myself and the other housemate were told we would have TV's in our rooms but they never materialised so we resort to iplayer. They knew of this as well.

It's all getting a bit tit for tat so I may just leave it and move out regardless.
 
I very much doubt if a motor bike would be covered under home insurance.

Sounds like the relationship isn't going to work out and you need to find somewhere else to live. Tell them if they charge you for the internet you'll take them to the small claims court to recover the money for your bike.

Why move into a family home anyway? Sounds like a recipe.
 
I'd be looking to move out also mate. I've lived with a landlady before and tbh it's a pita, Your situation seems to be going down the same kind of route as you say tit for tat.
 
Castiel said:
What's retarded about owning your own house?
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Nothing, but the obsession with it is retarded. There's a second class citizen stigma associated with renting. People regard renting as "wasted money" and would rather cripple themselves with expensive mortgages which are probably interest only anyway. That's retarded.
 
vonhelmet said:
Nothing, but the obsession with it is retarded. There's a second class citizen stigma associated with renting. People regard renting as "wasted money" and would rather cripple themselves with expensive mortgages which are probably interest only anyway. That's retarded.
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I agree. I built my own and paid off the mortgage asap.

There's nothing wrong with renting but generally mortages are cheaper.

The retarded thing is buying outside of your budget. It's the 'want it all now' attitude that's retarded.
 
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