Public Liability Insurance for Shared Access Road

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Mark_jmc

Registered User
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Hi All,
I am in the process of buying a property and as the title suggests their is a shared access road up to the house (less than 100 meters long ). This 'road' will be 'owned' by me- its on the maps etc.
There are 4 houses on the way up to the house that have right of access to this road.
Should I/Will I have to take out public liability insurance as if something happened on this road I would be liable?
Is this something I would get though house insurance or separately?
If I do get it is there a standard policy for this?/Any idea of the annual cost of such a policy?
I have never come across this before
many thanks,
Mark
 
If the OP will own the road, her situation is different from the other homeowners who just have rights of way.
 
thanks for the replies,
with regard to the mortgage- we made the bank aware of this road- they don't have an issue and it won't affect the mortgage offer.
I got a quote for public liability insurance up to 6.5 million for the 'road' -€299 per annum- I think i'll get this for peace of mind,
I don't think the previous owners had a policy in place
 
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Can I ask who did you get the insurance quote from? I am in a similar position myself and have been putting off getting sorted.

Thanks.
 
Hi Self builder- I got it from a broker- I'm not sure which insurance company it was with- I'll be sorting the policy in the next few weeks-i'll let you know which company then,
Best Regards,
Mark
 
Mark_jmc said:
Hi Self builder- I got it from a broker- I'm not sure which insurance company it was with- I'll be sorting the policy in the next few weeks-i'll let you know which company then,
Best Regards,
Mark
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Thanks that would be great.
 
Marc,
Why in a situation like this would you have liability if you did nothing wrong? If you ignored a major hole in the access road or ignored a hazard you might be liable. Take an accident/event on a public road one cannot sue the council unless the council caused or ignored a hazard/problem.
Across the country situations like this exist. Across the country walkers go across private land and the land owner is not liable unless there was entrapment or neglect. Not a legal person just another road owner. Only difference other houses on my lane way are collectievely responsible for maintenance of same. It was part of their planning conditions.
 
If you must pay for or share the cost of public liability insurance on this road it suggests that the road is a private road (has not been taken in charge by the Local Authority). Is that the case ? Aside from the need for and the cost of public liability insurance, consider too who must pay for maintenance of the road and the services that might (probably do) run alongside or under the road. Those costs, if they arise, are far bigger costs to consider.
 
Just came across this and something occurs to me.

Has OP's solicitors raised a query with the vendor's solicitors about the presence of any formal agreements as between the properties in relation to the shared "road" ? I would be reluctant to buy without getting that straight.

I know that I posted about this general subject on another thread - cannot remember when ! We have a situation where our neighbours and ourselves share a common driveway. In each of our respective deeds bundles (yes, the properties are that old) there are formal agreements that cover the responsibilities and potential liabilities of the respective properties. Each of us owns our respective halves of the drive to the mid-point. Each of us is legally obliged to grant right of passage to the other over our respective sides. Each of us is obliged to maintain our respective halves. This latter point could be problematical as if we failed to maintain we could be liable if our neighbours were injured whilst passing over our half as they are entitled to do.

I note that the other properties are not apparently owners but have a right of access. However, I would still be looking to see if there are any formal written agreements to cover those relationships as, if there are, that might answer a lot of questions.

Additionally, if there are formal agreements in place you might be very surprised by what they say in relation to the status of the respective properties. e.g. could there be actual ownership of parts of that road attaching to any of the other properties ? OP's solicitor should be investigating these matters.

Finally, many insurance policies covering legal liabilities exclude claims where a liability arises under contract / agreement if it would not have existed otherwise. Be careful that there are no agreements with those neighbours that effectively confer a contractual obligation on you as distinct from plain and separate negligence.
 
Hello Mark, We are looking at buying a house that has shared acess at the front on land that we would ulimately own. Could you please let me know what broker or insurance company were in a position to provide you with public liability insurance for road? If anyone else knows of brokers or insurance companies that offer such protection, i would also appreciate if you could let me know.
Thanks in advance.
 
Hi, I am also in a similar situation. I am finding it extremely difficult to get a quote for public liability. I have had one quote of 650e. Does anyone have recommendations of a broker or insurance company that they have used in the past?
 
Mark_jmc said:
thanks for the replies,
with regard to the mortgage- we made the bank aware of this road- they don't have an issue and it won't affect the mortgage offer.
I got a quote for public liability insurance up to 6.5 million for the 'road' -€299 per annum- I think i'll get this for peace of mind,
I don't think the previous owners had a policy in place
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Hi Mark - wondering if you could provide the name of the broker or underwriter who gave you the quote? I am in a similar situation, except i don't own the road, Coillte does and its a shared right of way. Having public liability is one of the conditions with the grant of right of way but similarly to @Moopylala I am struggling to get a quote.
 
megmcdon said:
Hi Mark - wondering if you could provide the name of the broker or underwriter who gave you the quote? I am in a similar situation, except i don't own the road, Coillte does and its a shared right of way. Having public liability is one of the conditions with the grant of right of way but similarly to @Moopylala I am struggling to get a quote.
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If you dont own the road you will struggle to be able to arrange Public Liability cover as insurers won't like the fact you have no control over the area in question.
 
I could also do with a recommendation we bought a site that has a15m lane way that will be our driveway as we own it outright. However there are 2 house that flank either side as in our driveway runs between the gable sides. We know that for one house, we need to allow access for maintenance of gable, wall, roof & a small opacity widow however the other house has access by foot only to a rear garden access. The drive is about 4m wide, but also am worried about potential liability.
 
em_cat said:
I could also do with a recommendation we bought a site that has a15m lane way that will be our driveway as we own it outright. However there are 2 house that flank either side as in our driveway runs between the gable sides. We know that for one house, we need to allow access for maintenance of gable, wall, roof & a small opacity widow however the other house has access by foot only to a rear garden access. The drive is about 4m wide, but also am worried about potential liability.
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Just in case you are still looking there is a product called Flex Insurance. Dolmen underwriting and Plum insurance offer it and were able to help in my circumstances where I was the full owner of the right of way. Hope that helps
 
em_cat said:
I could also do with a recommendation we bought a site that has a15m lane way that will be our driveway as we own it outright. However there are 2 house that flank either side as in our driveway runs between the gable sides. We know that for one house, we need to allow access for maintenance of gable, wall, roof & a small opacity widow however the other house has access by foot only to a rear garden access. The drive is about 4m wide, but also am worried about potential liability.
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You arent looking to insure a right of way. But where does your concern lie? If you allow someone access and they do some damage, that is on them.
 
I suppose my concern is that bc we won’t have a contractor on site until probably late august or September I thought it would be prudent to have say PI or PL just in case as you know how people can be. In terms of the ROW, it’s not registered, but has existed for more than 20 years.

it may be a moot issue tbh, as I’m pretty sure he’ll sell up now as ABP overturned his grant from DLRCC to extend upwards.
 
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