Thread: Liability in the home

Just wondering about something that just popped in my head.

So my housemate has a friend teaching bellydance classes in our shared home while she is away. I am on the lease of the house. My housemate states that person is an employee of her business.

Now if someone were to be injured in class or slip and fall in the hallway or whatever. Would I be open to liability since this class is being conduct while my friend is away and because I am on the lease of the house?

I have no homeowners or renters insurance...

Is this a dangerous situation?

Well, yes, but if you have no home insurance you are open to all kinds of bad situations.

Don't assume your home owners or renters insurance will in any way protect you while operating a business in your home! Most have clauses excluding business. As does your car insurance for "livery". Just know this because I operated a NYS Registered Day Care in our home for 17 years. Just a heads up, get the liability insurance for the business but don't let on with the home owners company, they will most likely drop you. OK I do live in New York State, land of many many rules!!! Maybe your area is a little more free than mine.

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

Just wondering about something that just popped in my head.

So my housemate has a friend teaching bellydance classes in our shared home while she is away. I am on the lease of the house. My housemate states that person is an employee of her business.

Now if someone were to be injured in class or slip and fall in the hallway or whatever. Would I be open to liability since this class is being conduct while my friend is away and because I am on the lease of the house?

I have no homeowners or renters insurance...

Is this a dangerous situation?

Renter's insurance is not too expensive (around here, anyway), and it makes your car insurance cheaper (which IS expensive around here). I always had renter's insurance, even when sharing an apartment.

Originally Posted by faaria

Don't assume your home owners or renters insurance will in any way protect you while operating a business in your home! Most have clauses excluding business. As does your car insurance for "livery". Just know this because I operated a NYS Registered Day Care in our home for 17 years. Just a heads up, get the liability insurance for the business but don't let on with the home owners company, they will most likely drop you. OK I do live in New York State, land of many many rules!!! Maybe your area is a little more free than mine.

This is true. My point was if one doesn't have any kind of insurance at all, then why single out a business situation to be concerned about. If you don't have personal insurance, then any visitor who injures themselves in your home could sue you and you'd have no protection.

Faaria and Sedonia are right. First, without any insurance, you are open to liability for any accidents that occur in your home. Second, if you are operating a business out of your home, you would need a business liability policy, even if you had regular homeowner's insurance. If a business-related accident or injury occurs in your home, it won't be covered under your homeowner's policy (and if you were to try to treat it as a personal, not business-related, issue and get it covered under your homeowner's policy, it would still jack up your premium, so that's not optimal...plus it's fraud).