Who has to pay here? Property damage
Hello,
I have a situation where I urgently need help.
On Monday, I visited a friend with my car. This friend lives in an apartment building owned by an organization (GWO - Cooperative for Housing Construction Oberland). This organization recently redesigned all parking spaces so that each tenant must rent one of these parking spaces and only they can park there. It should be noted that there are no warning signs for visitors clearly stating that only residents are allowed to park there, so it is not at all obvious.
I parked in a parking space that belonged to another tenant. When I came back later to leave, I found that the owner of this parking space had raised the metal barrier that is located at each of these parking spaces so that I could no longer exit. I then asked my friend to drive his car, which was parked right next to mine, away so that I could leave the area through his parking space.
In the evening, I received a call from my friend informing me that the barrier that had previously been raised was now damaged and that I was liable. However, that was definitely not the case. The owner of the parking space contacted the GWO, who then had the damaged part removed, will soon install a new one, and the bill will now be paid by the tenant, who in turn claims that I destroyed the barrier and now wants the money from me.
Am I now obligated to pay for the damaged barrier? I will not be able to report the damage to my insurance, as no assessment can be made since the barrier has already been removed. However, I am 100% sure that I did not destroy the barrier.