damage to my property by the neighbor's contractors

by Guest » Wed May 15, 2013 11:02 pm
Guest

i live in Illinois, my neighbor had a roofer last year replace his roof, we were told that the house roof was done on Friday and they would be back on Saturday only to do the garage. Saturday afternoon we moved our cars back into our driveway after cleaning up all the nails and other roofing first. The roofer was here working on the garage and said nothing about going back up on the house roof. Later that day i had let the dog out and looked into the drive, both cars were covered with roofing debris, rocks, nail pieces, etc. the air conditioning in my dining room window which faces the driveway was also covered in the same. we did hear some small thing hitting the windows earlier but really did not think it was anything. we found out later from the neighbor they had gone back on the house roof without letting us know and used a the hose from the air compressor in the truck to clean of the roof and clean out the gutters from all the roofing debris, nails, rocks and whatever else was there all of which landed on the cars causing paint damage as well as damaging my air conditioner. The nails they had used were not usual roofing nails these caused damage (holes) to the coils and the unit had to be replaced. the roofer first stated he would repair/pay to replace then told me he wouldn't give me a cent. the cars have been repainted thru our auto insurance who is still trying to get reimbursement as well as the deductible's we had to pay. But i had to replace the air unit out of my own pocket. since the roofing company refused to pay and it's getting warmer, i need the air conditioning, and he has his insurance fighting mine. Is the homeowner who hired this contractor liable for these damages? Since he was told by us several time and he just came back with "the contractor has to pay". Now this week he has a privacy fence put in between my yard and his, did not say he was going to do this,(i also have a dog who runs the yard) between the roofer, the owner next door and now the fence contractor the painted new property lines to his advantage so the fence is actually on my property the fencing gut also broke up the concrete that holds the post for my gate. So now i have even more damage to repair after his "improvements". I did call the surveyor company that originally marked my property line 20 years ago when i bought the house to come out and remark the correct line. But again is the owner of the house next door liable for the damages done to my property by the people he hired when they refuse to pay?

Total Comments: 2

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 01:02 am Post Subject:

I doubt that would hold up in court as the homeowner contracted to provide a service. The roofers were not the owner owners employees. Also, the homeowner did not have control over the roofers and their work. But why would it matter if the homeowner were liable? You'd still be in the same boat... neither party would want to pay you.

You may want to file suit in small claims court for your loss. You can name the roofing company and go ahead and name your neighbor. However, you need to live next to this person. Do you really want to start a war with the home owner? You may want to pay the $100 or whatever it is and file against just the roofing company. You can serve them by sending a certified letter to their company address.

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