Scratching of Windows, Insurance Issues.

[Davo36]

Hi, the windows at the front of my property have all been etched just recently.

Some little toe-rag has gone along and scratched their tag into each and every window.

So this raises a couple of questions.

1) I have previously put film on around the shop frontage. The film gets damaged when the etching is done. Are the tenants required to replace the film? i.e. is it their cost or mine? I have used the standard ADLS lease, 5th edition.

2) I have some other windows, not in front of the shop, but in front of the carpark which don't have film on them which have also been scratched. My insurance company will pay for these to be repaired but there is a $1000 excess. To replace the glass would cost around $3k and to put film on (which hides most of the scratches and can be replaced if they do it again) might cost say $500. So not sure what to do here...????

This is happening all over the place, does anyone have any experience dealing with this?

[Keithw]

How about sandblasting the glass where you have the film at present.
Should be able to sandblast many times before the glass gets too thin

[Tan]

We have this happen sometimes. Luckily our excess is only $500 which we on-charge (not sure we are actually allowed to do that any more but ignorance is bliss). In a situation with film, we lodged 1 claim & it covered windows + film.
I am about to put in a claim for a large building with heaps of windows in Auckland all scratched - little b*&^%$s! I'm expecting just the $500 which we will charge to the Body Corp (effectively all the tenants).

As an aside, I saw Diamond Fusion near here sanding the windows of a retail shop. A few months ago they were doing the cafe down the road. I called him to check price & availability several months ago after seeing him in a newspaper article - he said he would only go to Auckland for a very large job. Not worth the hassle for us with the low excess though.

Can you put the film on the inside?

[One]

Have you got security cameras, or at least signs that say you've got security cameras?

[Davo36]

Tan, I'm still unclear on this.

When you say "In a situation with film, we lodged 1 claim & it covered windows + film" do you mean they replaced the windows and paid for new film?

And then when you say "I am about to put in a claim for a large building with heaps of windows in Auckland all scratched - little b*&^%$s! I'm expecting just the $500 which we will charge to the Body Corp (effectively all the tenants)." What sort of repair are you doing here? Replacing windows? Film? Both?

[Davo36]

One, no, I can't see any point in having cameras either. They would vandalise those. And even if I got them on video I doubt the police would do anything about it.

But stickers might be a good option...

[Tan]

When you say "In a situation with film, we lodged 1 claim & it covered windows + film" do you mean they replaced the windows and paid for new film?

Yes. I just sent in both invoices and was paid for the total less $500.

And then when you say "I am about to put in a claim for a large building with heaps of windows in Auckland all scratched - little b*&^%$s! I'm expecting just the $500 which we will charge to the Body Corp (effectively all the tenants)." What sort of repair are you doing here? Replacing windows? Film? Both?

Replacing 15 windows - no film at that one.

[Davo36]

OK, so in the first instance where there is film on the windows, you're replacing both the windows and film? I don't get that. Why would you replace the glass if it has film on it? Wouldn't you just replace the film?

And in the second instance, the insurance company is not making you put film on? Surely it'll happen again and you'd have to replace all the glass again?

[Ivan McIntosh]

It never ceases to surprise me that insurance companies will often refuse to stump up for preventive measures.

For example, I know of a house that got flooded regularly...say once every couple of years. There was carpet in an area downstairs.

Would the insurance company replace the ruined carpet with vinyl that would almost certainly survive a minor flood? No way; they were adamant. They restored the carpet, only for it to be ruined in the next flood. Whereupon they replaced it with more carpet.

[One]

One, no, I can't see any point in having cameras either. They would vandalise those. And even if I got them on video I doubt the police would do anything about it.

But stickers might be a good option...

There's a walkway down the road from us that goes past the back of a heap of buildings. Lots of tagging. One building has a "24 hour video surveillance" sign on it. Much less tagging on that one - and not a camera in sight!

[Davo36]

Right, thanks One, I'll get some of those signs. Probably sell them in hardware stores.

[Davo36]

I went to the police station to report my scratched windows, I need to do this to lodge my insurance claim.

The really unhelpful woman behind the counter at the Papakura Police station wouldn't even do a report. She wanted to know exactly when the property was seen in good condition last, when it was first seen with the scratches etc. I said I didn't know the exact times. She said so what day did it happen. I said it happene over night. She said so when did you leave the building. I said I'm an investor and I don't work there but the tenant emailed me the next morning. So she said OK I'm going to need a lot more detail, the tenant needs to ring me...

I protested that since they are not going to investigate or do anything, that it doesn't matter exactly when it was done. She said it did because she had to do her report. I also said the whole point of this kind of crime is that you don't see them do it, so no one knows exactly when it was done. But she wouldn't change her mind.

So I've had to arrange for the tenant to phone them. And then they will send a copy out to me.

So crap service from the police. Not only do they do nothing to stop this sort of thing happening, they make you run around and do all sorts of things to get it fixed.

In hindsight, what I should have done is just made up really detailed times and dates at which I saw the property was OK and then damaged. i.e. just blatantly lied, it would have been simpler.

[Tan]

What I did for that last Auckland one was lodge a claim stating:
Date: unknown
Full details: vandalism to windows, glass scratched
Description: Plain glass, approx 15 windows approx 1.2x600 (I see now that is not very good clarity!)
Police report: N/A
and left all the other details blank. In this case I did ask them to OK it first which I normally don't do. The OK came yesterday

[spurner]

That's why crime is down, because Police are less likely nowadays to accept reports of crime, and when they do, they take absolutely no action, reinforcing the belief in people that reporting it is not worth it.

I had a property vandalised recently, and gave Police the name and telephone number of the offender and they did absolutely nothing. They refused to even call this person "because they would probably just deny it". LOL what a joke. I have no confidence in them whatsoever.

Unless there is high publicity, or money to be made, they are really not interested.

I went to the police station to report my scratched windows, I need to do this to lodge my insurance claim.

The really unhelpful woman behind the counter at the Papakura Police station wouldn't even do a report. She wanted to know exactly when the property was seen in good condition last, when it was first seen with the scratches etc. I said I didn't know the exact times. She said so what day did it happen. I said it happene over night. She said so when did you leave the building. I said I'm an investor and I don't work there but the tenant emailed me the next morning. So she said OK I'm going to need a lot more detail, the tenant needs to ring me...

I protested that since they are not going to investigate or do anything, that it doesn't matter exactly when it was done. She said it did because she had to do her report. I also said the whole point of this kind of crime is that you don't see them do it, so no one knows exactly when it was done. But she wouldn't change her mind.

So I've had to arrange for the tenant to phone them. And then they will send a copy out to me.

So crap service from the police. Not only do they do nothing to stop this sort of thing happening, they make you run around and do all sorts of things to get it fixed.

In hindsight, what I should have done is just made up really detailed times and dates at which I saw the property was OK and then damaged. i.e. just blatantly lied, it would have been simpler.

[Davo36]

Yes I agree Spurner, they seem to do the absolute minimum these days. Spend all their time collecting traffic fines.

To their credit though, when the tenant rang today, they the police then rang me and got my details so that they could send me a copy of the report. So I will get it. And the lady office who rang was very polite and helpful.

Still, what they need to do is a bit of old fashioned policing where they take the little toe rags around the corner and slap the $hit out of them and then it wouldn't happen again.