Liability iunsurance for Garden Damage

davebbwood

Sorry !

Insurer is The National Insurance and Gaurantee Corp Ltd.

mattymoo

Right, just had a look at their key facts document here
http://www.nig.com/docs/elite.pdf

On page 4, under the liability section it states:-

"Your policy will not pay for:-

Any wilful or malicious acts by you or your family
The ownership or occupation of land or buildings other than the Home

Accidental bodily injury (including death or disease) to you or your family"

The important bit is the word "occupation" on the second exclusion. This appears to rule out plan A. Back to plan B.

mattymoo

Right, had a look at the Halifax wording - contained here
http://www.halifax.co.uk/insurance/pdfdocuments/HalifaxHomeInsuranceMORPolicyWording_1_337329-2.pdf

Page 24 contains this:-

"The following legal responsibilities are covered:

If

you are both the owner and the occupier of

the buildings please note:

Accidents which happen in buildings or on land
are more commonly the legal responsibility of
the occupier of the buildings or land rather than
the owner. Cover against any breach of the legal
responsibility that you may have as the occupier
of the buildings as a result of your negligence is
not provided by this buildings cover. In order to
protect yourself, you should ensure that you
also have

contents insurance which includes

cover in respect of your legal responsibilities

as the occupier.
What IS covered
18. (a)

Your breach of your legal responsibility as

owner of the buildings as a result of

which you are liable to pay damages and
costs to others for:
• accidental death, disease, illness or
physical injury to anyone
• accidental damage to physical
property
The most we will pay for any single event is

£2,000,000."

Page 20 contains this

Liability: The following legal
responsibilities are covered
You

are covered under this section only if you

have advised us that



you are a landlord. Please

note that, if you are covered for legal

responsibilities under this section, you are not
covered for them under section 1: Buildings and
section 2: Contents.
What IS covered
1.

Your liability to pay damages and costs for:

• accidental death, disease, illness or

physical injury to anyone; or
• accidental damage to physical property;
occurring during the insurance period resulting
from your breach of one or more of the
following legal responsibilities:
• your legal responsibility as owner of the
buildings
•

your legal responsibility as owner or

bailee of your contents within the

buildings
• anything

you may do in your capacity as a

landlord for the buildings

•

you being an employer to any gardener,

caretaker or cleaner, under a contract of

employment with you and resulting from
work they are employed to do in relation
to the buildings.
The most we will pay under this section for any
single event that happens during any insurance
period is £2,000,000, or up to £10,000,000 as an

employer to any gardener, caretaker or cleaner."

I'd have to say, its not the easiest policy to understand. However, I reckon this phrase might offer some hope to you
"

• anything
you may do in your capacity as a
landlord for the buildings"

We know that you do not occupy this building so effectively you are a landlord or possibly "trustee" to the estate. It is not unreasonable to expect you to be carrying out work on the property and this ought to be picked up. The underwriters main intention when excluding contents was to prevent theft losses while the property is not occupied. I suspect it was not their intention to deprive you of the legal covers. As I say though, you need this to be considered at a relatively high level by someone who can understand the underwriters intent.

davebbwood

Well thanks for looking into that so deeply.

As you say there is some hope that I will be covered from that wording. The guy I spoke to at Halifax in their Liabilities Dept seemed to suggest that he would be looking at it favourably but did say that he had to refer to it to someone more senior - so as you say, it will require someone who really understands the policy.

I am waiting for them to get back to me so will update this thread when I know more.

Thanks again.

davebbwood

and reading through the test about the relevant law mentioned above..... if it comes to a discussion of personal liability then are we saying that although the bonfire itself was set deliberately, it was an accident which made it spread to the overgrown hedge and hence claiming protection from the statute ?




“LXXXVI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Action, Suit, or Process whatever, shall be had, maintained, or prosecuted, against any Person in whose House, Chamber, Stable, Barn, or other Building, or on whose Estate any Fire shall, after the said twenty-fourth Day of June, accidentally begin, nor shall any Recompence be made by such Person for any Damage suffered thereby; any Law, Usage, or Custom, to the contrary notwithstanding:”

Insco

Common law makes the occupier of land or premises responsible for fire which spreads from his premises. This Act elimiates the common law liability for accidental fire - so IMO you would need to show you were not negligent.

See how the neighbours claim goes with their own Insurers and pass anything you receive from them or their Insurers directly to your Insurers

davebbwood

Right, Halifax man at last gets back to me and tells me there is definitely no way they will accept the claim under my buildings policy. I have said that I want to take it further and he is forwarding th files to his Customer Services complainst department.

Advice would be gratefully received now as to what basis I should try to progress with the Halifax ?

Many thanks in advance.