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Smallholding insurance

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  • 07-09-2020 11:21am
    #1
    Chisler2
    Registered Users Posts: 436 ✭✭


    What kind(s) and level of insurance are appropriate for smallholdings?



    Mine is due for renewal shortly and outbuildings and sheds are only insurable "if in good condition and well-maintained on inspection". An Atlantic storm took down half of my very old barn early in 2019 but it was already in poor condition as the place had been unoccupied without maintenance since the 1970's when I purchased.


    I have around 3 hectares of native woodland planted recently. The forester's position was that it would only be necessary on mature woodland (this is new) and only to cover fire-risk. As the 11 acre holding is edges with streams it is unlikely I would need to claim for a conflagration in the next 20 years (if ever, given the high rainfall levels in the West of Ireland !!)



    Is Third Party Public Liability Insurance advisable on smallholdings, for example to cover situations of employing man with digger for a day and suchlike?


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    #2
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,475 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Chisler2 wrote: »
    What kind(s) and level of insurance are appropriate for smallholdings?



    Mine is due for renewal shortly and outbuildings and sheds are only insurable "if in good condition and well-maintained on inspection". An Atlantic storm took down half of my very old barn early in 2019 but it was already in poor condition as the place had been unoccupied without maintenance since the 1970's when I purchased.


    I have around 3 hectares of native woodland planted recently. The forester's position was that it would only be necessary on mature woodland (this is new) and only to cover fire-risk. As the 11 acre holding is edges with streams it is unlikely I would need to claim for a conflagration in the next 20 years (if ever, given the high rainfall levels in the West of Ireland !!)



    Is Third Party Public Liability Insurance advisable on smallholdings, for example to cover situations of employing man with digger for a day and suchlike?

    Public liability will not cover someone in working. It covers “visitors” who are there in a non business capacity.

    Someone like you mentioned in operating a digger will have their own insurance. Anyone in working for you who doesn’t have their own insurance would need to be covered by you under employers liability.


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    #3
    Chisler2
    Registered Users Posts: 436 ✭✭Chisler2


    Thank you that's helpful on difference between someone coming to do paid work and a 'visitor'.


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    #4
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,475 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    Chisler2 wrote: »
    Thank you that's helpful on difference between someone coming to do paid work and a 'visitor'.

    Actually “work” doesn’t have to be paid to need employees liability. Often if farms say we would be working helping out on nearby farms but not for money. Public liability doesn’t cover that sort of thing.

    I know of one case where a lad was helping his neighbor working on a shed when he had a fall. The insurance company refused to pay out under the public liability cover and there was no other cover. They said that employers liability would have been needed in that instance.


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    #5
    arctictree
    Registered Users Posts: 4,285 ✭✭✭arctictree


    _Brian wrote: »
    Actually “work” doesn’t have to be paid to need employees liability. Often if farms say we would be working helping out on nearby farms but not for money. Public liability doesn’t cover that sort of thing.

    I know of one case where a lad was helping his neighbor working on a shed when he had a fall. The insurance company refused to pay out under the public liability cover and there was no other cover. They said that employers liability would have been needed in that instance.

    In all fairness, if a neighbour rang me to help pull a calf or something, last thing I would be thinking about is insurance. Most of the country is probably the same.


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    #6
    Chisler2
    Registered Users Posts: 436 ✭✭Chisler2


    arctictree wrote: »
    In all fairness, if a neighbour rang me to help pull a calf or something, last thing I would be thinking about is insurance. Most of the country is probably the same.


    Brian thank you for that helpful information. "Insurance" for the kind of situations Arctictree describes seems to fall outside insurers' categories. My experiences of 'outside help' has been mostly from neighbouring farmers in crisis situations sometimes as brief as 15 minutes for assistance (e.g. to tow a stuck lorry out of mud or help free a wedged mini-digger). Not situations in which I check on their level of insurance-cover.



    A storm earlier this year took off one side of my 1930's corrugated barrel-roof hay-shed. Most of the outbuildings were in poor shape when I bought the place 7 years ago. The insurers' terms for cover were that that they be "in good repair and properly maintained"........a big ask with increasing number and intensity of Atlantic storms and impossible in my particular case so they are not insured.



    Beginning to think setting aside a fund for such repairs is the best option but wondered how other smallholders managed liability.


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    #7
    _Brian
    Registered Users Posts: 18,475 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    arctictree wrote: »
    In all fairness, if a neighbour rang me to help pull a calf or something, last thing I would be thinking about is insurance. Most of the country is probably the same.

    Same here.
    Yet it’s when an accident happens these ugly topics must be discussed.


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