Most of you know the problems I have had with the barn in which I started my build. My landlord told me last week he was going to demolish it. I had to move the luton container I keep all my tool in - fair enough I would have to move it.

Today, a week earlier than promised, the barn was demolished with my luton, my trailor inside it. The trailor was burried, and the luton was pushed out of the rubble with a JCB. All this happened while I was at work. My son, bless his cotton socks managed to pull most of the stuff out of the luton, but look at tha chaos inside when I got home.

Two destroyed roll cabs, damaged compressor, arc welder smashed, contents of the rollcabs all over the floor, hero of a son collected about 2 cwt of hand tools out of the luton and put them in a large holdall. Three socket sets all jumbled up, screw drivers of every description, engineering tools everwhere. I used to keep the tools immaculate, every drawer lined with grip lay, tools layed out in order, really organised.

The picture shows the damage after the clean up, the luton was dropped on a large rock smashing the floor out of it.

My landlord is a local councillor, I know if I take any action, the local heiarchy will close ranks - what can you do? It's like victorian fuedalism

Any suggestions?

Gutted

Mark


PS. If hippy mentions 90 degrees......
Rescued attachment Destruction.jpg

as hollow as it sounds mark, you are in the right, and you are entitled to compensation as they demolished the barn early when you had a right to have valubles still stored in it.

councillor or not, their feet burn like everyone elses when you salvage your blowtorch.

however, a better idea may be to get in touch with a solicitor. a simple letter to the landlord might be a good idea, summarising your losses and maybe a value.

good luck anyway.

Mark,
I'm sorry to hear of your latest barn-related problem. Councillor or not the twat is in the wrong. Did he give you written notice to quit the building? My first thought is to speak to a solicitor and you should be able to blag 1/2 an hour free. Secondly,get the Cornishman (local paper) round,even if it doesn't get your stuff replaced it wont make him look too clever.
Thirdly,I'm trying to remember the names of the local headcases!
Ian

I really sympathies with you
some people are right Twats

hope you get everything sorted

My condolances mate,

Regardless of the circumstances you'd have to be a right SOB to do such a thing.

Your landlord may think he's above the law but he most certainly is not. As long as you can prove he gave you no adequate (adequate being the key word here) warning of his intention and you are not in default in any other way you should win compensation.

Find yourself a brief and sue the bastard

Local rag, they will love it, landlord wont, what have you to lose..............

my home?

point taken, i will shurrup

I think I will have to be a little more subtle, they is a lot of mutual back scratching in the council down here, all I have to do is find someone on the council who is on the opposite side, or has an axe to grind/bury. softy softy catchy councillor?

i was,nt aware the "landlord" was your "landlord" as in home, assumed you meant the barn, id'e still ring local paper though, but thats me.

to hear of this sad news. We hope it sorts out ok, nothing to offer as far as advice goes. It's obviously very political. Good luck!

First off the LL didn't tear it down himself did he? No, he hired a contractor. So, let's assume we can make out a tort here. Breach of LL's duty to preserve tenant's personal property should do. Just because your the LL you can't enter onto the leasehold and trash everything, nor can your agents.

First question: do you have any kind of leaseholders insurance, what we tenant/homeowner's here. If so it should cover your losses.

No, OK, catalog and document your losses as well as you can. Submit a claim to the LL and his agent/demolition contractor. Ask that your claim be submitted to their liability insurers.

If they are not receptive to resolving it amicably, and your losses are large enough, you may have to sue. Here we can got to a small claims court w/o an attorney for losses under 850 UKP.

Check with your council as to weather demo contractors have to be licensed and/or bonded. If so, was this clown? Did the LL, in an attempt to cut costs not hire the proper contractor? Legitimate demos are usually very expensive, permits are required and buildings officails have to be advised. If these requirments exist and the LL failed to comply it could result in criminal charges. Something a polly tries to avoid. So research it, may give you some leverage to achieve an "amicilbe" settlement.

Last thing I can think of: why the hurry to demo the barn? Was it a safety hazard? Some municipal order to abate the hazard? Insurance underwriter want it gone? Not my area of law, but I hope this helps.

Remember those corners Mark...

By the way, if all else fails, call Uncle Dazza.

Mark sorry to hear about your troubles you might try posting this on pistonheads.Have seen some excellent legal advice on there.Good luck.Glan

let us know when you get the bugger. good luck.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
All the very best for the future.
Ali

Rem. Don't let the bastards grind you down.

I seem to recall something when i rented ....

all tenants have the right to a quiet life. Unless its an emergancy the landlord must get permission to go onto your property otherwise its breach of contract.

basically you've lost the barn & had your stuff trashed. You've got to ask yourself what do you want the outcome to be and what are you prepared to risk????

In the last place i rented i had to pay a service charge. On one contract renegotiation they forgot to add that clause. When the service charge came through I refused to pay - not in my contract They pointed out that I'd be given my months notice if I didn't pay ..... I paid

I then left two months later..... when *I'd* found somewhere else.

ONLY FIGHT THE BATTLES YOU CAN WIN & remember couselors have to get re-elected.....

Perfect description for a prick I think. Sounds like time to salvage what you can and leave him to it. His sort usually get their deserts eventually. How long had you occupied the barn and did you have anything in writing are the only things I can think might affect any claim you might have. Best of luck and I'm glad I don't live in sunny Cornwall.

If all else fails I know some 'colourful' characters who may be able to balance the accounts

Thanks for everyones advice, got to be a bit careful here, the landlord has a funny handshake, same as all the solicitors and council officials in the area.

HOWEVER... the LL burried about a ton of Asbestos in an abandoned water resovoir underneath the remains of the barn. I will wait until the replacement building has been built before releasing the pictures of this to the authorities. Should do the trick!

Make a claim for compensation online:

http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/

Just summarise your losses, make sure you have the evidence. You should even get the cost of making the claim back.

are you not covered by insurance?

Just hand the claim to them and they will throw the shyte for you.

If your landlord does have it in for you, id consider moving

at the end of the day if you fear your home is at risk if you fight back, you have to eat humble pie.

If not, and you have no insurance, you can make a claim that you would WIN (you only have to prove 51% probability - and it was knocked down a week early - I think you can prove that?) in the small claims court. Costs about 60 quid and you can claim up to a 1000 quid. You present your case - no solicitors at all. I brought one myself and won 500 quid

atb

steve

atb

steve


[Edited on 28/3/04 by stephen_gusterson]