personal liability for home makeover

Dangermac

annemarigold wrote: »

I have a young friend who'd like to raise money for a trip abroad. Her hobbies are photography, makeup and hairstyling. She'd like to offer friends and family makeovers and photographs for which they'd give her money towards her trip. She's worried she could get sued if she e.g. singed hair (!!) etc. Does she need public liability insurance or should she just have a written disclaimer in which case where could I find typical wording?

Thanks in advance

:eek:

Hopefully, I can help with a few pointers. This wont solve the problem, but it might give you some direction.

- Your friend does, indeed, have a potential liability for damage/injury

- It would seem that the risk is fairly low, although this obviously changes somewhat if hairdressing products such a bleaches/tints/colourings are used

- It is unlikely that she will be able to obtain public liability insurance, because she has no real experience/qualifications/etc

- If this was an unpaid enterprise, your friend's home insurance (presumably her parents') will have an extent of Public Liability Insurance, although you would have to be extremely careful with replying on this because the policy will exclude liability arising from business activities. If the makeovers were simply a hobby, there may be less of a problem. Great care is required here.

- You cannot disclaim legal liability in respect of bodily injury. It is contrary to the Unfair Contract Terms Act. Actually, you can disclaim liability, but it wouldnt be worth the paper it was written on, because of the above Act.

- If your friend was sued, does she have any assets? If not, then the claimants arent going to get much, although a court order/ccj may mess up her financial life for a while.

- Your friend's parents will need to be careful as their home insurance will probably not be valid if business activities are being caried out at the address. It may be best if this is treated as a hobby, and nothing more, but this could cause a problem if payments swap hands.


It does seem a shame that such a fairly low-risk activity needs so much care/attention, but that's the nature of life these days, unfortunately.

Please proceed with caution, but maybe there's a balance to be struck somewhere.

Hope this info helps.

Good luck

DM

annemarigold

Would that then be true if she were mowing an elderly neighbours lawn for pocket money or cleaning their house or doing the shopping? I've never heard of such a thing. I've heard of loads of kids who do chores for neighbours without having to declare income and get insurance etc. and register as self employed.

At what age does this apply and at what level of income?

notanewuser

annemarigold wrote: »

Would that then be true if she were mowing an elderly neighbours lawn for pocket money or cleaning their house or doing the shopping? I've never heard of such a thing. I've heard of loads of kids who do chores for neighbours without having to declare income and get insurance etc. and register as self employed.

At what age does this apply and at what level of income?

Any age, as soon as they are taking money for services provided.

Perhaps she should stick to mowing lawns, washing cars and other activities that don't offer the possibility of physically harming people!

annemarigold

Dangermac wrote: »

Hopefully, I can help with a few pointers. This wont solve the problem, but it might give you some direction.


Please proceed with caution, but maybe there's a balance to be struck somewhere.

Hope this info helps.

Good luck

DM

Many thanks for this helpful resume. This seems entirely sensible. Of course she should take care as we all should in our lives but suing would not get anyone far as she is at college and her assets would be negligible.

I'm not quite sure how to reply to the friend who has asked me to word a disclaimer for her daughter.

Perhaps a gentle reminder to anyone who avails themselves of the service that she will take utmost care but that in the event of any accident she has no assets.

annemarigold

notanewuser wrote: »

Any age, as soon as they are taking money for services provided.

Perhaps she should stick to mowing lawns, washing cars and other activities that don't offer the possibility of physically harming people!

Well maybe only offering wash and blow dry hair, makeup and photograph would offer minimal possibility of harm especially if she uses well known brands of makeup. It's the perms and colouring on hair and chemical peels on skin where there are more likely to be problems!

dacouch

Dangermac wrote: »

- It is unlikely that she will be able to obtain public liability insurance, because she has no real experience/qualifications/etc

Good post apart from this part, PL policies rarely ask for qualifications, there may be a higher premium for having less than say a year or two experience / trading but is certainly possible to buy without qualifications in the OP's daughter's trade

notanewuser

annemarigold wrote: »

Well maybe only offering wash and blow dry hair, makeup and photograph would offer minimal possibility of harm especially if she uses well known brands of makeup. It's the perms and colouring on hair and chemical peels on skin where there are more likely to be problems!

Not true. Most "quality" make up brands react with my skin despite me having no known dermatological issues.

Blow drying hair carries risk of damage if she's not trained etc.

dacouch

If she's carrying out the treatments at your home you could well have a problem with your home insurers

zzzLazyDaisy

annemarigold wrote: »

Would that then be true if she were mowing an elderly neighbours lawn for pocket money or cleaning their house or doing the shopping? I've never heard of such a thing. I've heard of loads of kids who do chores for neighbours without having to declare income and get insurance etc. and register as self employed.

At what age does this apply and at what level of income?

If she got a saturday job in a beauty salon, or a hairdressers salon she would be earning. If her earnings were sufficient she would pay tax and NI conts. She would be covered by the salons liability insurance.

This is no different. She is a young adult who wishes to offering beauty services for payment.

What she is proposing is a business and good luck to her, but she should do it properly. Apart from anything else, if she works and does not register with HMRC as self employed, there is a £100 fine for failing to register. It would only take a 'friend' to report her, and that would wipe out her earnings at a stroke, and possibly more besides.

huckster

There is a away around this.

She does not charge them anything for the makeover or photograph and they sign something to confirm no charge was made for this. Then separately, she has a trip donation box, which the family and friends can put in any amount they wish to help pay towards her trip.

There is then no business, no liability to Insure, Home Insurance would not need to be made aware as no business ( no direct payment related to makeover/photograph) and no tax issues.