In the past I’ve been led to believe that if you lend a neighbour a stepladder to repair his guttering or his roof and he has an accident you can be held liable. Is this correct?
No, unless he could prove that you knew one of the rungs was loose and he fell off the ladder when it gave way. Hopefully you wouldn’t lend your ladder to your neighbour under these circumstances! You can only be held responsible for an accident, generally speaking, if you should have been able to foresee that it was likely to happen.