Hello everyone,
I had a question regarding a homeowners liability if hired help gets injured on the jobsite. How does a home owner protect themselves when hiring someone out of the classifieds, people that dont have registed bussinesses, and are trying to make some cash doing some side work?? Im going to be doing some demolition, and stripping some drywall of some walls, etc, and seen there are alot of people willing to do this work, but am worried if they get injured while here. Can anyone provide some insite that may have delt with this. I dont know if laws are the same everywhere regarding this, but I live in Ontario, Canada. Thanks ahead of time for any advice. Fern
In the states, you make sure they have liability insurance and workers comp insurance.
The two classic scenarios are:
Homeowner hires an out of work carpenter from Craigslist. Carpenter gets injured on HO's property. Carpenter is not insured. Carpenter sues HO for medical bills. HO's insurance company blows off HO, tells him he's on his own.
Homeowner hires an out of work carpenter from Craigslist. Carpenter damages property (backs into neighbor's car, starts a fire, causes water damage, etc). HO expects carpenter to cover damages. Carpenter shrugs and disappears. HO's insurance company blows off HO. tells him he's on his own.
My county license requires that I am insured and bonded. And anyone you invite into your house to do work should be insured. Ask for proof of insurance, if they have it it is easy to produce.
The issue that they might get hurt is not as great as if they do something that damages your house.
Thank you for the reply guys,
Basically who I hire needs to have insurance, is there any insurance companies that offer temporary insurance to the home owner for people working on his property??
Your HO insurance in unlikely to blow you off for reasonable size projects done around your house. That's why you bought insurance. You can call your insurer if you want to verify.
It would just mean that you're responsible for the deductible, claims in excess of your policy amount and possible increase in rates.
Even if your contractor has insurance, if you let them borrow some of your tools or pitch in and help, or have a specific incident of negligence, you create an avenue for someone to come after your insurance polity.
Not sure how it is where you live but here, if I want to hire itinerate labor, I can get a fairly cheap temporary workers comp coverage from the state. You will need to w/h taxes etc. and deposit those to a federal account. He is and employee not a contractor.
He should have WSIB and general liability insurance. Your home is considered a work site under WSIB and you are liable for the WSIB premiums unless your contractor/handyman is covered. You also could if charged and fined if he injures himself. General liability insurance is necessary in case something where to go wrong. Depending on the extent of the renovations, you should consider informing your insurance company to ensure you have adequate coverage.
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