Vacant land purchase

[susan779]

We live in Florida. We recently purchased a wooded lot and intend to build on it within two years. The lot is well maintained and is heavily wooded. If any of the trees fall and do damage to our "to be" neighbors, what is our liability? Do we need to purchase some kind of additional liability insurance? Would our current homeowners policy be at risk for payment? Should we notify our insurance carrier? I feel so stupid that we didn't find this our prior to purchase!!!!! Thanks.

 

[ALawyer]

I'd stop worrying and call my insurance company. The cost of liability cover for vacant land added to a homeowners policy is a pittance.

 

[susan779]

vacant land

Thanks so much for your reply. I guess you could tell right off that I was hysterical!

I did find out from someone living close by that when they had a limb fall on their house and they tried to file a claim with that owner (vacant lot), they were told that in order to have a valid claim you need to prove that the owner of the vacant lot knew that the tree was not in good shape. To do this, they should have taken a picture of the tree and mailed it to the owner. I do not want to be a bad or neglectful land owner so I am going to check with my insurance company to see if additional coverage is available under our current homeowner's policy.

Thanks, again.