QUESTION
Can I file a claim against my landlords property insurance for a hit and run that happened in the backyard parking area?
Asked on Aug 05th, 2015 on Automobile Accidents - North Carolina
More details to this question:
I rent a house. The backyard area is mostly enclosed with the exception of the driveway which leads to a space for parking. The landlord allows other tenants who rent in the area to park in the space. Last week someone hit my car while it was parked. I filed a police report but the incident occurred sometime overnight, so there were no witnesses nor any way to determine who did it. The space should only hold maybe 3 cars, but the other tenants habitually park up to 6 cars in the area. I have notified the landlord in the past about the excessive number of cars parking in the space. The owner does not issue any decals or tags to identify those that can park in the area or not.
1 ANSWER
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Dear Anonymous:
You most likely have a claim for premises liability against the landlord. Whether or not the property insurance will pay up for your damages, that remains to be seen. You can absolutely set up the claim with the insurance company to see if the will accept liability. If they do not accept liability and are unwilling to pay for repairs to your vehicle, I would suggest retaining a licensed NC attorney to fight the denied claim. There is often a question of what duty the landlord owes its tenants. A typical duty owed is to keep all common areas of the premises in a safe condition. The fact that you have notified the landlord on prior occasions of excessive cars in the common driveway and the landlord has done nothing about it tells me that the landlord, at the very least, had knowledge of the condition that existed on the common driveway and failed to mitigate any possible damage.
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Answered on Aug 31st, 2015 at 11:19 AM