While reviewing my home insurance the GEICO rep said a fence might be needed around the pond for liability reasons like a pool. Anyone face similar issues?
From a safety viewpoint and preventing accidental slip into the pond I can see the merit. However the cost to fence it off & visual ugliness makes me say maybe not.
Any other viewpoints?
There are lots of different insurance companies. We've never heard a requirement for fence around a pond from ours.
OTOH, I have fence around both of them anyway to keep the cows out.
That's nonsense. Surely they won't follow through with that. If so, I'd be calling Jake from State Farm.
I've got State Farm. They give me a discount on my homeowner's policy because of the pond.
The closest fire plug is ~2000' of hose from my house. The pond is 150' from my house.
Should have mentioned that I also have a blanket liability policy in addition to the normal homeowner's coverage.
The main reason I bought it is to cover any horse problems that may occur, but it would cover
any pond accidents as well. No fence required.
I got liability insurance specifically for our pond property. Not one word about fencing. Of course, it's in Texas, where maybe it's harder to trespass, get hurt, and sue the owner successfully.
i too have a seperate liability insurance policy for our property and is considered a "farm" liability policy. But...it's only $100 a year and does NOT have anything about fences around pond. Just "bad" dogs!! And I'm in deep east Texas also.
Thanks for the replies. Maybe I'll just post some signs
Warning trees, if you run into them might hurt.
Warning Pond, water is wet
Warning your outside, stuff happens
Warning lions, tigers & bears oh my
Trying for humor
The umbrella liability is a good way to go and as mentioned above not expensive. I had to put up a barrier to keep my own idiot family members from driving in. The pond. As Flame above says "Dear alcohol.....
I've never heard of a fence being required around a pond.
Of course, gas cans are 'different' now due to ......stupid people.
I’ve never thought of a rural land liability policy. I occasionally have guests/friends up to ride 4 wheelers, fish, hunt, etc. 22 year old grandson sometimes hauls up his latest GF for a day in the country. Also, he and a half dozen high school buddies have an annual weekend there to do some shooting, drink some beer, 4 wheeler, etc.
Guess I need to look into this.
These days I don't think we can go wrong with umbrella policies. Unfortunately.
I’ve never thought of a rural land liability policy. I occasionally have guests/friends up to ride 4 wheelers....Guess I need to look into this.
Dave my attorney told me in no uncertain terms to not let guests on the ATV's period. She said guests/kids on ATV's are lawsuits waiting to happen. She said even if your own brother's kid gets seriously injured like paralyzed he's going to sue you and say "
well I am really just suing the insurance company this is nothing personal".
So it just so happens when guests visit...our ATV's are "not working". It's not just the attorney either....2-3 years a go we had a rule "under 16 must ride with parent".....well during events that rule lasted about 15 minutes..We're busy cooking on grill and then there goes the kids that were riding with their parents driving/speeding by all on their own. Don't wanna be a "kill-joy" at guest outings.....so the "ATV's aren't working locked away in barn" works really well. There is so much more to do that after a few mins they forget about ATV's.
I do have ranch/farm injury liability insurance.....plus another piece of the puzzle in Texas is to post these signs on your property and take pictures of them. This law went into effect in 2015. It's not total protection, but every little bit helps solve the puzzle.
As far as a fence around a pond, it may depend where your property is? I cant see this happening way out in the country....but if there are lots of close neighbors or within city limits or close to a town....then maybe it becomes an issue as society becomes more and more worried about liability.
I have one of those signs on my front gate. I have one young man, my Grandsons best friend, that has been coming to my place for almost 15 years. Like another grandson to me. But, I guess I could get sued by anybody.
Dave, my farm liability policy has a "exclusion" (other than bad dog breeds) and that is it will NOT cover ATV accidents on the property. They sure know how to cover their asses!! But... I have a new six man side by side that ONLY I drive. But...If I did something by accident it wouldn't be covered!
.22 year old grandson - and a half dozen high school buddies have an annual weekend there to do some shooting, drink some beer, 4 wheeler, etc..
Dave - hold my beer and watch this - is a huge lawsuit risk !!!
At a bare minimum an umbrella policy and written waivers of liability and assumption of risk.
Their is only one way to shield yourself from the risk of civil liability, death, and even that has a work around.
I have never seen any fence around a farm pond here; close to town, in town because of development, or otherwise.
My sister had the homeowners insurance company tell them they would be dropped if they installed a wood stove in their house. They switched insurance companies.
Because I am in NY, (nanny state) I have recently seen a few ponds with fencing around it, and the ponds were relatively close to the house and in more suburban areas.
My insurance agent calls ponds "Attractive Hazards" as kids will inevitably stray and explore your pond regardless of signs. (I know I used to!). If I put a fence around my pond, it would have reduced my umbrella policy by ~$20 a year. Not worth the cost of the fence unless I was really concerned about kids. No small kids in my area right now, and boy those fences looked bad. Only thing is I didn't see any geese, and an otter would have a tough go of it.
Was making small take with my father-in-law the former insurance salesman last night. After we chatted about the weather I asked him about fencing a pond. He said North Carolina Wildlife would possibly force me to remove the fence as it would impede the migration of wildlife. Or so they were told in sales calls.
So No fence around the dang pond for me
Makes sense. But, rural areas are butt deep in stock tanks. Stock, meaning livestock that need water. I can’t imagine a scenario where a rural farmer/rancher would need to unlock a gate to let livestock water.
However, juries are seldom peopled by our peers and both sides lawyers get to strike potential jurors.
One interesting thing. All of our drinking water comes from lakes that are filled by rivers that have their sources as streams from private land. I have such a creek, spring fed, on my land. It flows into the local lake. I am prohibited from damming it up due to owning the source. So, if a trespasser drowns in my creek, am I liable? Do I share the liability with the governing body owning the lake for drownings? Is any governing body responsible for lake drownings? I would have to go to case law for this one.
As Sonny Corleone said in The Godfather, “Schtoopid, just Schtoopid. “
In general, it sounds pretty stupid, where did they even see fences around ponds? You should study their policies better and maybe insure a house with someone smarter... At a minimum, this fence may cost you more than your kidney, lol. If they care so much that someone might fall into the pond, let them offer favorable health insurance! Don't worry so much, check out
health insurance broker portland , it will save you from any trouble with GEICO Live in a buzz without any fences around your pond, dude!
I don’t know. People with back yard swimming pools fence their property to keep intruders out. Heck, we do whether there is a pond or not. We fence rural properties whether there is livestock or water impoundments.
Makes sense. But, rural areas are butt deep in stock tanks. Stock, meaning livestock that need water. I can’t imagine a scenario where a rural farmer/rancher would need to unlock a gate to let livestock water.
However, juries are seldom peopled by our peers and both sides lawyers get to strike potential jurors.
One interesting thing. All of our drinking water comes from lakes that are filled by rivers that have their sources as streams from private land. I have such a creek, spring fed, on my land. It flows into the local lake. I am prohibited from damming it up due to owning the source. So, if a trespasser drowns in my creek, am I liable? Do I share the liability with the governing body owning the lake for drownings? Is any governing body responsible for lake drownings? I would have to go to case law for this one.
As Sonny Corleone said in The Godfather, “Schtoopid, just Schtoopid. “
DD, if your area is anything like our laws around here, and I think this is a national thing, if the stream across your place is of any size, it is owned by the public as far as access, they, the general public, can traipse thru your creek, inside high water line area, freely without any trespassing risk, nothing you can do to stop them. until of course they step out of the high water mark, then they are trespassing on your land.
I think that here in Indiana, the stream and creeks that can be traversed by the public on private property are only those considered "navigable".
https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/recreation/water-trails/river-rights-and-usage/#:~:text=The%20traditional%20law%20of%20navigability,became%20a%20state%20in%201816.
I switched insurance providers and they required me to 'send them a picture showing a life ring or throwable flotation device mounted near the edge of the pond' WHAT?????
Made no sense in summer time as someone would get very wet very slowly before they were deep enough to drown (unless intoxicated or suffering from previous injury) But I thought about in winter if someone fell through thin ice it would make sense to have something there already.
I ordered a life ring and rope and attached to a tree in a way that isn't too conspicuous to thieves and the neighbors. Of course now that I satisifed the underwriter of my policy I am free to take it down.
I think for winter rescue it makes more sense to have a ladder or a small plastic boat/sled to allow the rescuer to come out on thin ice and float if they fall through in order to rescue someone.
I think that here in Indiana, the stream and creeks that can be traversed by the public on private property are only those considered "navigable".
https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/recreation/water-trails/river-rights-and-usage/#:~:text=The%20traditional%20law%20of%20navigability,became%20a%20state%20in%201816.
That is the way it here, "navigable waters" although Im not sure how they describe navigable, because a lot of these that are considered navigable are dry as a bone for 4months out of a yr..
I looked up my creek an appear to be upstream of the part designated as navigable.