Are residents responsible for damaged done by unsecured items?

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I just suggested to my neighbor that they move the Big Wheels, tricycle, children's bicylcles chairs, plastic slide and being-disposed-of air conditioner from in front of their house (across the private way from me). They told me I was being ridiculous because Irene had been downgraded. Now, I'm just hoping I don't get to say "I told you so" but I'm wondering if they have any responsibility if any of these items go flying through my windows or into my tenant's car.

Comments

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I was wondering that, too.

[ronhaha108.livejournal.com]

me too..

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

take a picture or two of the stuff sitting around outside their house, so if it ends up in yours (after breaking a window or two on the way in) you have some proof that it was theirs.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

this exactly.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I think at this point the winds are about as high as they're going to get, so I'm not sure moving stuff now makes much sense.

[nurrynur.livejournal.com]

you sure about that? the wind is only gusting to about 20 mph right now, but the forecast is up to 50-ish in the early afternoon.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's still plenty of wind speed increase to be had, I think. The storm is still heading north towards us, so I think we'll be getting much heavier winds in the afternoon.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

You might want to call the police "non emergency" line to ask them. I wouldn't worry about the a/c unit but the plastic stuff, chairs and toys are likely to disappear. I have a feeling that the items will be far from their home if they do damage. However, I also have the feeling that the neighbor will not be responsible because the damage might legally be due to "an act of Nature/god".

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

I think an "act of nature/god" is only applicable if it's the weather itself that does damage. Next time though, get it in an email that you warned them and they did nothing. Then it truly is their fault, because they could have taken steps to prevent it and they did nothing.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I went and got my neighbor's trash cans and moved them under my porch.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Most stuff like that won't be a problem at all. If something is light enough to fly away, it's not likely to do much harm.

The stuff you see hurricanes doing in Florida just doesn't happen in New England. :-)

Mostly you just have to worry about loose tree limbs.

[ron_newman]

Not sure I agree with this. A light plastic deck chair picked up and hurled at 45 mph is likely to break any window it happens to encounter.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Test it out! Well, not with someone's actual house, unless they want to take the windows out...

In my experience, nothing that heavy will fly anywhere, really. It might roll around a bit on the ground, but that's about it.

Maybe if you had chairs on the roof, and there was no barrier to them falling off the roof that might give them enough height to reach a window, but otherwise they are mostly harmless. If you're worried about basement windows at ground level, it would be sensible to put a board in front of them, maybe. But I've never even heard of that being a problem.

Again, tree branches falling onto things it definitely a major problem, though, so keeping humans and easily broken things out from under large trees is a very good idea.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

In minor wind storms here in Somerville, I have seen recycling bins picked up by the wind and flying through the air.

One of those will take out a window.
As would a garbage can lid.

[spacehawk.livejournal.com]

I found this (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/If_a_neighbor's_tree_fell_on_our_property_who_is_responsible).

I suspect the law is the same for trees as with other items of personal property.

If you warned your neighbor that his/her stuff was a hazard, and your neighbor did not act, and your neighbor's property flew into your property during the storm, and damaged it, then that would be one piece of evidence toward proving negligence.

[ron_newman]

Please come back here and tell us (I hope) that nothing bad happened to your windows (or your neighbors' windows).