Garage door drops metal on car, I rent, Who should pay?

Damage was caused to my car when I opened the garage the other day and rusty bits of metal fell on the rear left quarter panel causing damage. I am wondering since I rent if the landlord would be legally responsible for paying for this damage? It isn't really my fault the garage is poorly maintained. I got a quote for the repairs at $250 NZ dollars.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Max

landlord definitely but you'll have to prove that the damage came from his garage door.

I think it's going to depend on the fine print in your lease agreement and how much you want to invest in legal proceedings. HPH

You'd probably have to prove that the landlord was negligent in order to recover $$$ from him/her. The question will be "Did the landlord know that the door was in a dangerous condition?"

 

Expect to be asked how the landlord should have known the door was faulty if he/she rarely visits the building, when you didn't even know despite using the door regularly.

 

If the door was visible in a state of disrepair, such that the landlord should have known it was dangerous, then you yourself should have also recognized and reported the danger, then execrised your duty to mitigate the risk (stop using the garage until repairs are made). If the danger was hidden such that you yourself had no way of knowing about it, then how could the landlord have known about it?

 

What part of the door fell? Can you prove how long the door was in a condition that would have been revealed by an inspection? How long have you lived there?

 

Dunno about NZ law, but in the US the liability that comes with property ownership is not absolute. If you trip on my path because I have ignored dangerous cracks that clealry presented a tripping hazard, then I am liable. If you are standing on my path and are bitten by a wild animal thne I am not liable becuase I had no knowledge or control. I would only be liable for dangers that I knew about and ignored. That is, in essense, the definition of negligence.

 

I would expect the landlord to fix the garage door, but don't hold your breath on getting your car paid for.

if its a net-net lease you own it because its your job to maintain the property. if its not a net-net lease the owner/landloard is going to have to pay.

It is going to depend on NZ law

I can't imagine rust dust caused all that much damage. And $200 isn't worth the effort of collectiing from the landlord

It is going to depend on NZ law

 

NZ law, like US law, is founded in English common law. They are similar enough in common law situations (ie Where there is no specific modern statute) that we can discuss the basics, and probably be pretty close.

 

Common Law can be amended by statute at many different levels of political subdivision, including federal/state/county/township, and private levels such as HOA/lease contract (and that is US law, NZ law will have different levels). So the only absolutely correct answer on an internet forum is; "Talk to a local lawyer."

Maybe that's how you practice

Deduct it from you rent.

Excellent post Scruit.

 

Look at it from the landlord's point of view. How is he supposed to know that the door needs to be fixed if you don't tell him?

I've rented a lot of places- my advice is to just fix it and be done. I'd let him/her know that the door needs some maintenance, but I wouldn't suggest that they pay you for the damage. A good relationship with your landlord is worth more than a couple hundred NZ$.

 

Where are you BTW, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch? Awesome county, great people! Go All Blacks!

+1 with Rimfaxe. It's better to have a good relationship with your landlord than save a few bucks and be on the guy's shit list. Plus, there is no guarantee you would be able to prove your case and get the money. So you could piss the guy off AND get stuck with the bill. Not worth it IMO.

Renter's insurance.

Yeah me and my dad own some apartments. If you told the landlord, he'd be responsible (if he knew you had the messed up garage). If he hadn't of known, then you'd be responsible. My advice to you coming from a landlord, fix it yourself. There is nothing more aggravating then when people come up to us and blame us for such things. I mean half the time the crap is caused by them. When we get hassle from people, they tend to lose our respect. I mean we once had a football sized area in the the corner of the parking lot that had ice on it. She decided to go and walk on this piece of ice and slip on purpose. She sued us. She ended up paying for everything. The whole parking lot was shoveled and salted but that was the area where the piled snow was and ice had formed from melting in the day and freezing at night. She was def. on our shit list. Finally, we stopped giving her breaks and 2 months later she was out. Moral of this is, save yourself and the landlord the hassle. Fix it and let him/her know that the garage needs some repair work.

I had an apartment with a garage with power opener. If the garage damaged my car in any way I would hold the rental company fully responsible for the damage. If the damage was severe I would get a lawyer involved. If I were you I would have immediately taken pictures of the damage with the rusty pieces still on the car with date stamp for evidence for your case. If you do not have this.. it may be your word against theirs and you will probably lose.

You guys are missing the bigger picture 250 NZD = 131 USD

 

it's not even worth the effort of mentioning the damage to the car to the landlord. but I would ask to have the garage fixed.

Thanks for the responses. I had expressed concerns about the garage needing maintenance previously and nothing was done. (a part came off before). I can afford to fix it it's just a little bit annoying that nothing gets done when I request the landlord to do something. I called and he said he would look at the car damage and the garage that night and never showed up. That was a few days ago. Every time we request something (reasonable bearing in mind my father owns several properties and rents them out) the landlord takes weeks to do anything about it. I understand unreasonable tenants who screw things up then blame the landlord but this was a case where the landlord never bothers to check up on the house and follow through with our requests.

Regarding the comment about metal dust. It was actual solid bits of rusty metal. I watched them fall down onto the car

Dunno about NZ law, but in the US the liability that comes with property ownership is not absolute. If you trip on my path because I have ignored dangerous cracks that clealry presented a tripping hazard, then I am liable. If you are standing on my path and are bitten by a wild animal thne I am not liable becuase I had no knowledge or control. I would only be liable for dangers that I knew about and ignored. That is, in essense, the definition of negligence

 

Ummm... if you trip on my path it's because I blew out your knees with two barrels of 12 gauge buckshot. You clearly ignored the "No Trespassing You Will Be Shot - Survivors Will Be Shot Again." Shame on you!!!

What do you guys think about $500NZD for the rear left quarter and the rear bumper resprayed with lifetime guarantee?

But in all honesty, if you don't have written proof that you warned him/her about a faulty door, you're S.O.L. and he'll be charging you for the damaged door, not you for the damaged car

Looks like one of those landlords that just collect rent and doesn't care about the state of the property.

Ummm... if you trip on my path it's because I blew out your knees with two barrels of 12 gauge buckshot. You clearly ignored the "No Trespassing You Will Be Shot - Survivors Will Be Shot Again." Shame on you!!!

 

 

 

Oooooooooo-kaayyyyyyyy.....

I guess paying for it isn't so bad. S*** happens to all of us and we all end up losing money to incidents that are beyond our control. Will take the car in to get fixed this week. Will get the rear bumper done too. Will look immaculate.