If material damage is caused as a result of intentional or unintentional actions, the injured party shall have the right to rely on its compensation. If the perpetrator does not wish to voluntarily compensate for the damage, as a rule, the injured party contacts the police. In addition to the statement, in this case it is necessary to attach a certificate of damage. The document is compiled in any form.
General concepts and classification
Property damage by law is interpreted as a deterioration in the economic or material condition caused by unlawful acts of third parties. Damage assessment is expressed in losses that are recoverable.
The concepts of “damage” and “harm” in civil law are most often used as synonyms. Although damage is lost in whole or in part, the damage is expressed in infringement of rights. In turn, property damage is divided into:
In the first case, the specific amount that is required by the owner to recover the lost thing is implied. Lost profits are also material values, but only those that the owner of the property could have received if he had not lost it.
In what cases is a certificate of damage required?
Such a document is needed if the property is substantially damaged. This refers not only to the theft of things, but also to harm her. For example, the car was not stolen, but only badly damaged due to hooligan actions of a third party.
For legal entities, such a document is important not only when making a claim, but also for accounting, tax accounting, more precisely, for the correct display of the amount of damage.
A certificate of material damage is required in cases when it is necessary to receive insurance payments, especially in the case of CASCO and CTP.
When only moral harm is inflicted, a certificate is not drawn up. Claims can be made here against the guilty party solely in the framework of civil proceedings.
Contact the police
Most often, a damage certificate is provided to the police. Based on this document, the type of liability for the offender is determined. For example, if the damage is done in the amount of not more than 1 thousand rubles, then the offender faces only administrative responsibility.
The Criminal Code defines significant damage that exceeds the amount of 2.5 thousand rubles. And liability for damage or theft of property, the value of which exceeds 1 million rubles, threatens even if the act occurred by negligence.
The certificate of damage to the police (a sample is given below) does not have a template and is drawn up in any form. Such a document can be submitted both at the stage of initiating a criminal case, and during the investigation.
If the damage is caused to the vehicle
Here, simple help can not do. To assess the amount of harm will have to involve an expert. Although it is allowed to draw up such a document by the owner of the car. The certificate must contain full information about the vehicle, a description of the place where the incident occurred, the circumstances in which everything happened. The document that the owner of the car independently compiled must be certified by the police before being transferred to the insurance company.
Claiming seller
If the housing was damaged due to malfunctions in technology, then you can claim damages from both the seller and the manufacturer. For example, if the cause of the fire was a faulty TV, this fact should be recorded in the expert opinion of the firefighters. Based on this document, the owner of the apartment can independently draw up a certificate of damage. The paper should reflect the circumstances in which the fire occurred, the size of the damage. Each figure is recommended to be documented, for example, with checks of payment for the purchase of an electric wire, wallpaper, and so on.
The injured party has the right to demand either a refund of the money spent on the thing that caused the fire, or compensation for material damage.
General compilation rules
A certificate of damage may be made on a computer or by hand.
The document should contain a description of the object that was damaged, its location. For example, if hooligans damaged a trading stall, then the address of his location should be indicated. In case of damage to the machine, the place of the accident, as well as damage that was caused to it, is indicated. It should be indicated in what condition the thing was before the incident.
It is mandatory to prescribe the calculations that were carried out when determining the amount of damage.
Certification of a document
The certificate of damage is subject to certification by authorized bodies. If damage is caused due to an accident, then the document must be certified by the traffic police. If we are talking about housing - its flooding or a fire - the document is certified by the management company.
In all other cases, the certificate must be certified by the police.
Document structure
The recipient to whom the document is addressed is indicated at the beginning of the help text. For example, if the property of a legal entity is damaged, the certificate is addressed to the police. After this, the data of the compiler of the document is indicated: full name, address of registration. If the paper is drawn up on behalf of the enterprise, then a certificate can be made on the letterhead of the organization and not write the data “in the header”.
After the name of the document is indicated. The following paragraph describes the circumstances in which the damage was caused. If it is a theft and it is not known exactly when it was, then the estimated time of the offense is indicated. The damage caused to the property and its condition before the incident are described.
After a description of the circumstances, it is indicated which damage is caused and the size of the losses (preferably with calculations). If the person who committed the offense is known, then the designation of his personal data is allowed.
After the main part of the document is a list of attached documents. As a rule, documents that confirm the amount of damage are applied to the certificate. This can be an expert opinion or a check on the purchased product.
At the very end of the document, the date of preparation is indicated, the signature of the applicant and his full name are put.
Sample damage certificate
LLC ... (name)
Or to the police station No. ...
Cities, territories
Address
(From) ... (Name, address)
Or LLC ... (company name)
Legal address
reference
(Date) I purchased in your store ... (type, name of equipment) ... worth ... rubles, which is confirmed by a copy of the check (Appendix No.).
(Date) ... the equipment was installed by specialists of a certified center ... (name, address).
15 days after the start of operation, the equipment failed. I invited a certified center specialist for repair and inspection, who found that the malfunction is a consequence of a manufacturing defect (act attached).
Based on the foregoing,
ask
- Return money in the amount of ... rubles that were spent on the purchase of goods.
- Reimburse the cost of transportation costs and installation costs of equipment in the amount of ... rubles.
Please send the answer to ... or report the results by phone.
Date, signature.
This example combined two documents: a certificate and a statement on the return of goods. It is allowed to simply draw up a certificate and not ask for anything in it, but separately issue a statement or letter, express a request and attach a certificate to this document.