What is a Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement and Why do I need one?

Say that again?

Day to day life has most of us going about our usual daily chores without ever really thinking of the consequences of something going wrong with us being held to blame, for something we had no involvement in.

One couldn't be blamed for not thinking in the negative however, as insurance professionals we have often been quite shocked just how far people will go to blame another person for injuries or property damage especially, where money is involved.

If you take time to read some other information available on this website concerning "public liability" - "product liability" - "negligence matters" you will also probably be quite shocked at some of the things that can and do happen.

We thought well if the no one else is going to do something we better had so, we developed this "Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement" which can be down loaded from this site for free and used by just about anybody when engaging someone to provide you a domestic service at home such as a tradesman, handyman or gardener might.

By insisting the service provider agree to the terms of the Agreement it should rid you of any liability that may have attached to you if not for the agreement - in other words it should give you considerable protection from liability arising from something going wrong at your property caused by a service provider.

Here are a couple of examples of what could go wrong:

Case 1

You hire a gardener to mow your lawn and carry-out general garden maintenance on a monthly basis for about 3 hours each visit. The gardener while doing his rounds uses a brush cutter (whipper sniper) which accidentally hurls a stone into the face of a person walking by, causing that person to sustain serious facial damage and permanent vision impairment. A claim for substantial damages is commenced by the injured person against the gardener however; the gardener is uninsured and has little or no assets. The injured person then joins you into the action on the premise that the gardener was your agent (carrying out a service on your behalf at your direction and with your approval). All of a sudden your whole financial future could be threatened. How could the Agreement have helped? If the agreement had been signed and the gardener had adhered to its terms they would have had to have their own liability insurance therefore diminishing the risk of you being sued at all. The agreement doesn't cost anything to use and if a trades person or infact any person working on your property or doing something for you is not insured - you shouldn't be letting them start in the first place. This Agreement is a sort of check and balance procedure. For our Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement Form click here.

Case 2

An electrician wires up some lights in your back yard for the barbecue area. Everything works well for the first 2 years however, one day when a planned barbecue had to be cancelled because of rain you ask one of the guests to switch out the lights but, in doing so that person is electrocuted to death as a result of faulty wiring. The family of the deceased person then commences a claim in the millions of dollars against you as the property owner. You then make every endeavor to locate the electrician but, you can't find them and what's worse you got a discount because you had agreed to pay him/her in cash with no receipt. Your house and everything you have is on the line - with further potential to be charged under law for the person's death. How could the Agreement have helped? If the agreement had been put forward to the electrician and he/she refused to sign it the simple notion would be that the work would not have been undertaken by that person. However, if it had been signed and the electrician adhered to its terms you would then have had a record of the electrician's insurance company and insurance policy number which would have helped with a claim under the electrician's insurance cover. It might also help prove that a licensed electrician had done the work. For our Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement Form click here.

Case 3

A painter is engaged to spray paint the outside of your house however, during the course of the painting wind carries overspray across to your neighbors driveway and on to their brand new car and what's worse the windows were open. As a result, the car's paint is damaged as is the interior but, not to a point where the car is a write-off. The clean up bill comes to $3,000.00 plus a week's taxi fares to and from work for your neighbor. You have asked the painter to pay for the damage but they refuse quoting the often blasphemed term "no mate it was an act of god - anyway I haven't got insurance". You decide to withhold payment from the painter and they commence a collection action against you - all very messy. How could the Agreement have helped? If the agreement had been put forward to the painter and he/she adhered to its terms by holding public liability insurance it would have been a simple matter for the painter to call upon his/her insurer to pay for the damage or reimburse you the costs of having your neighbor's car cleaned up. For our Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement Form click here.

Summary:

The above examples are simply examples of what could happen. So for peace of mind and no cost to you why not insist that anyone undertaking any work at your home for anything whatsoever signs this "Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement".

Remember, professional people who take pride in their work will most always have their own public liability insurance to cover them against the things mentioned in the Agreement so, if they will not sign it - there might be something wrong.

For our Domestic Liability & Indemnity Agreement Form click here.