When Neighbours Go Bad

It is 3.30am on Thursday and my neighbour’s burglar alarm kicks in.

He is absent from his house, which is by no means an unusual occurrence. I look out of the window for signs of fleeing criminals, of which there are none. I dress slowly, just to give any intruders plenty of time to make their getaway, collect a torch and a big stick and go round to take a look.

I open the door to be greeted by the sights and sounds of water gushing from above, the source apparently being a burst pipe in the loft area which has taken out part of the ceiling. I begin an immediate search for a stopcock to turn off the water, but fail to find one in all the normal places. A call to the water company reveals its location, which is outside the house. I return to take a look. I am wet. I am also cold, because it is minus 8 degrees. I am also wishing people with stopcocks would put a sign next to it saying ‘Stopcock’, and a big arrow pointing directly at the stopcock to help people who are anxious to find it, especially in the dark.

The external stopcock proves as elusive as the internal stopcock. I go home and begin calling plumbers. At the fourth attempt I persuade one to come out at 10.00am and rectify the situation. I fire off an email to the owner (Mr.H.) advising him of some difficulties I am having at his house. It is now 6.00am.

The plumber duly arrives. He turns off the water, goes into the loft and finds three separate leaks. He fixes them. The house is now secure. Water has been prevented from spreading into other areas of the house, such as the living room and dining room which are wooden floored and carpeted. The day has been saved. Mostly, anyway. Neighbourly duty has been done. Overdone, some might say.

The terms of the plumber’s service include immediate payment, no waiting for insurance claims or cheques from householders, it must be now. I pay him £355.35 through Mastercard.

Three rooms downstairs and the loft area above them are water damaged. The fibreglass insulation material in the loft is totally soaked and requires replacement. The ceiling has fallen in on the boiler room, which is a total mess, and the downstairs bathroom has taken a lot of water. Light fittings are hanging off this ceiling and lampshades are full of water. The third room is locked.

I convey this information to Mr.H. via email, suggesting he contact his insurance company immediately, and to seriously consider returning home without delay in order to deal with this problem. I wait.

Mr.H. calls. He has contacted his insurance company and registered his claim. In so doing, he has given my name and phone number to them as the point of contact for all matters relating to this claim. He assures me that I will not have to do anything at all because the company will look after everything. I am not to worry, all will be OK, I will not be inconvenienced in any way.

(This is not quite true. What I will end up having to do is field enquiries from the insurance company, its appointed loss adjuster, house restoration company, drying agent and all their sub-contractors, a total of six different companies so far, who all want to speak to me and go through what happened at least three times each. I will have to agree appointments with all these people and make myself available to let them into the house for surveys and rectification work. I will also have to contact a locksmith to deal with the locked room, paying him £93.15 for his trouble using my Mastercard, because his terms of payment are identical to those of the plumber. I must also deal with additional requests from Mr.H. to perform tasks unconnected with the burst pipes, such as arranging for a dehumidifier for the cellar which is unaffected by recent events. I am also charged with arranging for the boiler to be fixed, if necessary, and to ensure that all heating, water, and lighting is servicable in time for the return of Mr.H.'s daughter in two weeks time.)

Of course, when I consider the impact of Mr. H.'s refusal to return home and deal with all this activity himself, I am sorely tempted to down tools, and to request him to kindly fuck off. However, he is now into me for the sum of £448.50, and I wish to ensure I get this money back before I upset his equilibrium with such requests. Therefore, I will do as he asks until the daughter returns, carrying the £448.50 in cash with her as promised. The daughter then gets the house keys inserted into a convenient bodily orifice, with a suggestion she conveys this unmistakable message to her breathtakingly arrogant and totally presumptuous father.

I’m sorry you had a crappy morning, but “stopcock” is a hilarious word.

First mistake. You have no responsibility for that property and therefore should not have paid a dime. Your response to the plumber should have been “Here’s the owner’s number. Good luck.”

Seconded. You should not have gotten yourself financially involved.

Also, I assume you will be charging him a reasonable hourly rate for your services rendered and the value of your time, in addition to what you paid the locksmith and plumber, correct?

Myself, I would have kicked in the locked door before calling anyone just to make sure that it wasn’t full of cp or a meth lab or something else that will bring too much interest down on me just for being around.

You’re a good man. Now, maybe you shouldn’t have gotten yourself and your Master Card involved to the extent you did, but there is a buttload of good karma that just got deposited into your account.

Have you considered going into property management? :slight_smile:

I sincerely hope you are speedily reimbursed and if your neighbour had a brain cell in his head, you’d be rewarded well for your time, trouble, and efforts as well.

They say no good deed goes unpunished.:smiley:
Good on you for trying to do the right thing. Rare in this world.
Next time you know to put in ear plugs and go back to sleep.

Now that’s chutzpah.

IMHO, you got way, way too involved for any neighbor. I would have intervened to the point of shutting off the water (if possible) and notifying my out-of-town neighbor of the situation. At that point my involvement would stop.

I would not call a plumber, nor would I pay any contractor. Even from out-of-town, your neighbor is capable of calling a plumber and giving them his credit card over the phone.

I would under no circumstances consent to be the point of contact for insurance companies or anyone else.

I honestly don’t understand why you took it upon yourself to get involved with anything other than the necessary immediate actions (i.e. shutting off the water). Even if you felt compelled to get a plumber out there to shut off the water, why did you then direct the plumber to repair the leaks? Once the water was shut off, any repairs could have waited.

Hmm. Maybe you should be pitting yourself for being a chump.

Please come and live next to me instead. My lawn needs mowing. Also, I could use a new TV.

I think the thread should be retitled “When good neighbors go awesome.”

On behalf of people who would be royally fucked if it were not for the intervention of a nominal stranger: thanks!

I really hope Mr. H has a good reason for being out of town – not simply shagging his mistress, but at least a modest business or important personal reason. That you’re helping out with the transactions and ancillary crap is commendable, and is allowing him the opportunity to finish up what he can before returning. Not saying anything about whether he should, mind you, just that your actions are that much more laudable.

I really hope Mr. H isn’t a deadbeat and takes over responsibility when he gets back, including immediate reimbursement. Not only to make sure you get compensated, but to bolster your innate sense of community and what is done when something goes awry with a neighbor. I also hope he has the sense to send you one hell of a fruit basket, preferably with tickets or something you’d like inside.

So in short, rah rah rah… this takes nothing away from your vented frustration or the inherent chuckleheadedness of Mr. H. Just wanted to point out that the world is a better place for the steps you’ve taken. Thanks.

Like others have said, there is the good karma aspect. Maybe when he kicks off, he will leave you a sizeable portion of his previously unknown sizeable estate. Or at least buy you a nice dinner.

Since this is the pit, you are a fucktard for fronting the money and handling the logistics. Though I may have done the same thing… :slight_smile:

Bravo to you. Best of luck in getting reimbursed in a timely fashion.

I would like to point out that if someone in the US posted a large sign with an arrow reading “Stopcock” - It would be stolen in minutes and hanging at the local pub / fraternity house / etc.

I’m saying; he hasn’t gone bad, he’s taken advantage of a resource that has presented itself. When she doesn’t show up with the money, then maybe he’s gone bad.

Doesn’t burglar alarm mean either call the police, or the private security will show up soon?

Police in England drive very, very slow cars.

Is the daughter hot and available?

Some background.

I’ve had the guy’s keys for a couple of years now. When he’s away, I go in every three days or so, water his plants and generally keep an eye on the place. He does the same for me.

Upon hearing the alarm I wasn’t really too worried. Alarms are very often faulty and in any case a possible intruder would have been long gone by the time I arrived at his door.

Having opened the door my first thought was to shut off the water in the manner previously described. When this proved imposssible I called the plumber. Of the four I phoned, none would come out without guaranteed payment so I was in the hole for at least £100 whatever the result of the visit. I did not consider allowing the situation to develop whereby the rest of the house was endangered.

The plumber came, identified some leaks and then shut off the water. He took a look in the loft and then asked me if he should fix the leaks. Since I have to pay him anyway, I took a quick decision and agreed. When the house was secure, and I had emailed Mr.H. with the details, I expected that to be the end of my involvement. I fully anticipated his immediate return.

Mr. H. is not only out of town, he is out of the country and was uncontactable by phone at the time of the incident. Also, there is no fucking way I would have agreed to be the contact for anybody’s insurance claim. When he told me he had done this I was not best pleased.

I could not make him return. At that point, my first concern became securing my investment in him. Therefore, after the locksmith visited to see to the door, I emailed him with a request for payment. I am happy that this payment will arrive on time and in cash.

Just to qualify this:

Mr. H. did not ask me to arrange this. He asked the insurance company to ensure it all happened but, of course, this necessitates my compliance because I have the keys.

Assuming that Mr H is a non-native Englishman (a good bet these days in England) have another neighbor inform him that the appropriate etiquite (sp?) in this situation is a gift of a bottle of liquor and a hooker.