As a property renovator you have liability to other people entering the site, from visitors to contractors and employees.
The following examples show the importance of getting the right insurance in place so you are not exposed to a claim.
The plasterer who broke his ankle
This first example is the most common form of liability incident and applies in most cases where a claim for personal injury is being made.
Most main contractors use sub-contract labour to undertake tasks that fall outside their team’s skill set or when they need more personnel to complete the project on time.
As a property renovator you have liability to other people entering the site, from visitors to contractors and employees.
In this instance a sub-contract labour-only plasterer was being used to plaster a bedroom ceiling. He stood on a milk crate to enable him to reach the ceiling, despite having been asked not to by the contractor running the site. During the task he fell off the crate and broke his ankle, leading to an eight-week period during which he could not work.
The sub-contractor had no personal accident insurance to cover his loss of earnings and decided to instruct a ‘no win no fee’ solicitor to recover his losses as he saw them.
The lawyers concerned named both the contractor and our client as co-respondents in the action to cover all bases even though the contractor was the most likely target. Despite early intervention on the insurer’s behalf, costs of £5,000 were incurred in defending our client’s position and eventually avoiding the action.
When illegal entry can still lead to a claim
A client purchased a property for renovation but without any intention of living in the property prior to works. We arranged Property Owner’s Liability as a matter of course from the point of contract exchange to protect the interest of our client.
Shortly after completion a group of children entered the property, and while trespassing one child fell through a floor and was injured.
Under British Law you cannot contract out of injury or death to persons invited or not, and as such the child concerned successfully brought a claim against the property owner for the defective premises.
Shortly after completion a group of children entered the property, and while trespassing one child fell through a floor and was injured.
This clearly demonstrates that while morally the child should not have been in the house, the law took the issue of illegal entry less seriously than duty of the house owner to make the property safe.
The award and costs here amounted to £32,000.