Legal Liability for Damage due to Renovation

Questioner

Dear Sir/Madam, The past 2 months in May I did a big cleaning downstairs, in the common area of ​​the apartment complex where there is a hallway with boxes of the residents. We do not have a cleaner in service and so it often falls to the residents to keep the hall, the stairwell and the hallway with the boxes clean. I usually take on these jobs. It is an outdated space where little to no maintenance is carried out by the housing corporation. Only replacing a light bulb when it is gone. The complex dates from the early 50s. Because there were a few cables dangling loose along the walls in the hallway with rusty nails that held the cable in place, I thought it would be a good idea to remove them. (9 years ago I was promised by a mechanic from the housing corporation that they were of no use.) No sooner said than done. Until my neighbor came to me with the story that she had been disconnected from the internet, TV and radio. Then a light started to go on for me and I was very shocked that I could possibly be the culprit in this story. And indeed it now appears that the cable (outdated network cable) only enters her via that corridor along the walls. She still uses the old analogue network cable while the rest of this complex is connected to the cable from Ziggo, for example. She does not have this connection in the house and this connection is therefore not present. I really assumed that it was old junk that was attached to the wall and even thought that this could possibly be a fire hazard. If I had known this, I would never have taken this action! My question in this is, who is liable for this? In the meantime, the neighbour is being sent from pillar to post. And both the provider and the housing association are pushing it onto her. In the meantime, she is incurring high costs and the provider does not want to reimburse her subscription costs, from which no signal reaches her. What step should I take to quickly find a solution? The cables go through walls with all kinds of detours. I have removed about 18 meters of cable that is exposed along the wall. I look forward to your answer with great interest. Thanks in advance! Kind regards, J

Lawyer

Unfortunately, it seems that you should not have taken this well-intentioned action because you caused damage to someone else. Your question is partly technical, but at first glance it seems that the easiest solution is to replace the removed cable. You seem to be liable for the costs. Are you perhaps insured against liability? And in that case I advise you to report this to your insurance as soon as possible.