An in-ground pool is a wonderful addition to any backyard, but any water features come with certain risks and insurance issues. Before you add an in-ground pool to your home's yard, make sure you know the insurance implications of this type of feature.
Attractive Nuisance Classification
An in-ground pool is classified as an attractive nuisance by insurance companies. This simply means that the pool could attract the attention of a child and pose a threat to them. Other types of attractive nuisances include major building equipment, trampolines, playgrounds and anything else kids might like.
Your home insurance policy will likely require you to list any attractive nuisances on your property. While these features can be insured, the insurance company must know about them in order to accurately assess risk and calculate premiums.
Thus, you will probably need to specifically list your in-ground pool on your home insurance policy, and the pool should be listed before it's finished. In fact, construction sites are also considered attractive nuisances, and you might have to list your pool before construction on it begins. To not list the pool on your policy could compromise your coverage.
Fence and Gate Requirements
When someone insures an attractive nuisance, the insurance company requires that the person takes reasonable measures to prevent unsupervised children from accessing the potentially dangerous feature. There doesn't need to be an insurmountable barrier that no one can get around, but there does need to be something that stops young kids from getting to the feature.
With in-ground pools, the barrier requirements that home insurance policies stipulate usually include a fence and a gate. You'll have to put up a fence that reaches a minimum height around your pool, and a self-latching gate must secure the enclosed pool. Exactly how tall the fence must be will be stipulated in your home insurance policy.
Even if you don't have children living at home, you'll still need to place these barriers around your in-ground pool to prevent any neighborhood children who pass by from getting to the pool easily and without supervision.
Liability Risk
With an in-ground pool, your personal liability risk increases significantly. Should someone drown in the pool, you may be held financially responsible for the death.
To protect against this potential risk, you might want to increase your personal liability coverage limits. Personal liability coverage is a protection that's included in your home insurance and covers risks like this.
To learn more about home insurance, contact insurance agents in your area.
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