who pays for broken window?

[r.l.climmons]

was woken one night to smashing glass. must have been after 10 pm as that's when i finished work. anyway it was quite windy and i found my wheelie bin (which had just been emptied that day) had flown into the window on my front door and smashed it. being late on a friday night, all i could do was clean up the mess and didn't call the real estate PM till the following monday. my PM wasn't in but the lady who answered the phone took a message. that was weeks ago and i haven't heard anything back.

as far as i can tell from reading similar threads on here i'm not responsible for the window. i didn't break it. this isn't a party house and there's nowhere in my small courtyard i could have put the bins that isn't in front of one window or another. nor was it that windy when i got home or before i went to sleep for me to consider trying to secure the bins. then again we've had worse winds here (been in this flat for 8 years) and never had the bin(s) go flying. i figure it was just bad luck and timing with the bins having been emptied that day. as an aside - they never fixed the portion of the fence that blew down on a separate occasion out the back either. nobody in these block of units uses the back area but i thought they still should have fixed the fence.

i have an inspection coming up in a few days so thought that would be the best opportunity to talk to the PM about it. any advice from you guys?

[PC]

Send a 14 day notice to the PM to get the broken window fixed.

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/pub-sorting-out-problems

The PM should have been on to it straight away.

[Keys]

The repair of the broken window should have been done immediately. Who pays is sorted out later.

[VirtualT]

Sorry, can you explain again why it's the landlords fault and they should pay for an accident that has befallen on you? Was it because "its not a party house" or because they didn't fix a fence, or because you didn't anticipate the winds.. it's not clear.

Sounds like your a GenY. Maybe your mum could pay for it?

[flyernzl]

In my case, the answer is 'my insurance company'.

All my rental property insurances have a 'no excess on glass or sanitaryware claims' clause.
It only costs an extra $50 or so on top of the usual premium, and as the charge for attending and fixing even a small broken window is more than $100 these days so you only need one claim in the year to come out ahead.

[DazRaz]

Sorry, can you explain again why it's the landlords fault and they should pay for an accident that has befallen on you? Was it because "its not a party house" or because they didn't fix a fence, or because you didn't anticipate the winds.. it's not clear.

Sounds like your a GenY. Maybe your mum could pay for it?

Why do you think the tenant should pay for damage to the house which they are in no way responsible for causing? Are you suggesting they were careless with the wheelie bin? Who would have paid if it were untenanted?

[Learning]

Sorry, can you explain again why it's the landlords fault and they should pay for an accident that has befallen on you?

The way it has been described the accident didn't fall upon him, it fell upon the landlords property. Unless the PM/LL can find evidence of neglect, wilful damage or a cover up it sounds like a clear cut case of LL pays.

[DazRaz]

Learning, you are slashing the wrong way.

[Learning]

Thanks Daz. I've remedied my incorrect slashing.

[Meehole]

Tenant is responsible, responsible tenant would have insurance.

[Learning]

Tenant is responsible, responsible tenant would have insurance.

Why would a responsible tenant have insurance for the LL's property?

[DazRaz]

Tenant is responsible, responsible tenant would have insurance.

So if a tree fell and damaged the house, you'd expect the tenant to pay?

[VirtualT]

So if a tree fell and damaged the house, you'd expect the tenant to pay?

No, but if the tenant put the tree there and didn't have enough duty of care to secure it so that it didn't damage the house in a storm I would expect the tenant to pay

aaaaaaand IMO thats half the problem in this country, and you wonder why the tribunal come up with the crap they do, in my view a landlord is renting a house to live in not providing an all expenses paid runway

[Learning]

Who should pay if it was a council or LL provided wheelie bin kept in the location chosen by the LL before the tenant moved in? (Assuming those assumptions are correct.)

[DazRaz]

No, but if the tenant put the tree there and didn't have enough duty of care to secure it so that it didn't damage the house in a storm I would expect the tenant to pay

aaaaaaand IMO thats half the problem in this country, and you wonder why the tribunal come up with the crap they do, in my view a landlord is renting a house to live in not providing an all expenses paid runway

I don't think it's wrong that if a landlord has a broken window from a storm on their property, they would need to prove the damage was caused by some sort of negligence by the tenant before the tenant pays. It is possible the window was broken because of negligence although perhaps unlikely.