Insuring a site you own before you build

Once you own a site, you are responsible for what happens on it, even before you build. Public liability cover for land protects you if someone is hurt, and your home insurance may not give it. The works policy only starts when building does.

Why do you carry liability for an empty site?

The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995 makes the person in control of land its occupier. That is you once the site is yours. The Act sets out who you owe a duty to and how much care that duty requires.

Who enters	What you owe them
Visitors	Reasonable care in the circumstances. Visitors include a surveyor, a neighbour you invited and anyone there with your permission.
Recreational users	A lower duty: not to injure them intentionally or act with reckless disregard. Walkers on open land are the usual example.
Trespassers	The same lower duty as recreational users.

For a visitor, the duty is to take such care as is reasonable to prevent injury from a danger on the premises. The Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 added factors a court weighs, including the likelihood and seriousness of harm and the cost and practicality of precautions. It also provides that you are not liable for a risk a visitor or recreational user accepted voluntarily, with an understanding of what it was.

Reckless disregard is a high bar, but not an impossible one. A court looks at what you knew about the danger and whether you had reason to expect people there. A hazard you know about, in a place people use, is the risky case.

A notice can restrict your duty to a visitor only if that is reasonable and you took reasonable steps to bring it to their attention. A warning sign does not protect you from a danger a visitor could not avoid.

What hazards turn up on a one-off house site?

• Open ground: old wells, septic tanks, soakaways and slurry pits, or an uncovered drain or ditch next to a road.
• Old structures: a derelict house or outbuilding with a loose roof, open floors or asbestos sheeting.
• Trees and boundaries: dead or leaning trees near a road or path, and broken fencing next to a field with livestock.
• Access: a gap in the hedge children use as a shortcut, or a gate that is left open.
• Dumping: fly-tipped waste, and fires lit by trespassers.

Walk the site once with these in mind. Fence or fill what you can, keep a dated photograph of what you did, and put up clear signs at the entrance. If the site contains an existing building, tell your insurer.

What records help if someone makes a claim?

If someone is hurt, the question is whether you took reasonable care, so keep proof of what you did. Dated photographs of the fencing, covered openings and signs show the state of the site. Keep copies of any letter or email from your insurer about the site, and the certificates of the professionals who visited. Report an incident to your insurer promptly, even if no claim has been made yet. Policies usually require notice of anything that could give rise to one, and a late report can put cover at risk.

What cover exists, and does mine apply?

Three types of policy may be relevant.

1. Your current home insurance. Most policies cover the house on the schedule and its grounds. A separate site is often outside it. Ask your insurer whether it extends to land you own elsewhere and whether liability for third parties is included. Get the answer in writing.
2. A farm policy. If the site is part of family land, check whether the farm policy includes public liability and who is named as insured. See building on family land.
3. Public liability cover for land. A broker can advise on a standalone policy for a site you own. The Irish Farmers Journal advises landowners to hold public liability cover whether or not anyone uses the land for recreation. Policy wording differs, so ask what the limit of indemnity is and whether trespassers and existing buildings are included.

If the site has an existing building, whether you can insure it as a vacant property depends on its condition. A broker will ask about its state of repair and how long it has been empty.

Cover is normally arranged for the person who owns the land. If the site is still in someone else’s name, for example while a family transfer is arranged, settle ownership first.

What changes when people come onto the site?

Surveyors, engineers and an assessor carrying out percolation tests and trial holes all create risk before any building starts. Open trial holes are a hazard to anyone who walks in.

• Ask each professional for a certificate showing professional indemnity and public liability cover before they arrive.
• Agree who will make trial holes safe and when they will be filled.
• Tell your insurer that investigations are planned. Read about what the site assessment involves.
• If your lender is paying for the site, check whether its offer letter asks for cover on the site before drawdown. See what lenders require.

How does it hand over to self-build cover?

Contract works and public liability cover for the build should start no later than the day work starts on site. That includes the day a digger arrives to strip topsoil. At that point:

1. Ask the broker to confirm the start date in writing, and whether it replaces or sits alongside any site liability cover you hold.
2. Check who is named as insured and that it matches who owns the land.
3. If you hire trades yourself, read insurance when you project manage. Your own health and safety duties as the client are set out by the Health and Safety Authority.
4. Read the full self-build insurance guide.

What happens when the build finishes?

The self-build policy is for the construction period. It ends on a date set in the policy, and that may be on completion, handover or occupation, whichever the wording says. Home insurance needs to be in place from that moment.

• Ask the broker for the exact event that ends the self-build policy.
• Arrange home insurance to start no later than that date, and earlier if your lender asks for it.
• Send your lender written proof of cover. It holds the house as security for the loan.
• If you have finished the build but not yet moved in, tell the insurer. Many home policies have conditions for an unoccupied house.
• Do not let the self-build policy lapse while snagging is still going on or before you hold the completion paperwork. See certificate of compliance on completion and snagging a new build.

For cover against hidden defects once you have moved in, read the structural defects cover guide.

What to do next

1. Ask your current insurer in writing whether the site is covered for liability.
2. Walk the site and make safe what you can. Keep dated photographs.
3. Ask a broker about public liability cover for land if the answer is no.
4. Check which covers you will need as the build gets closer.