The worst case scenario when verrge gardening without a public liability cover is that you can lose your house if sued. Keeping to the rules of the council makes this less likely IF you can prove that you are gardening as required. But how do you prove that? I can see a time when an online course with annual checks will allow the resident to access council public liability. How about a small payment to go towards PL provided by council? OR a bulk discount buy on landscapers' PL, managed by council? This the time to bring these questions forward for discussion with a a 'solve it don't shelve it' attitude.
I'm not sure that keeping to the rules of the council is a defence. If that was so, it is still the council being responsible for allowing whatever practice caused damage.
Keeping to the rules just makes your garden less risky so you are less likely to get into trouble.
The most likely issues are things like leaving garden tools out so people trip on them, having flimsy or poorly maintained seats that collapse if someone sits on them, and trip or slip hazards.
Inappropriate planting is more likely to generate a complaint to council who will then tell the resident that they must remedy the situation. Unfortunately some verge gardeners dig their heels in and this can snowball into big emotional and costly disputes. Insurance is irrelevant here.
Latest news on this topic is that 'you cant insure what you don't own". Therefore public liability remains with the council. it can be argued that tacit approval for the garden is given when an application for a verge garden is approved by a council, that that they therefor assume the Public liability.
That is exactly the reasoning used by the Gold Coast Council to refuse to have a verge garden policy (see facebook thread above). "Our City assessor’s have determined the liability risk that Brisbane has taken on is too great. Brisbane didn’t quantify the risk, just assumed it."
Well, Brisbane doesn't take on the liability risk. I have found one council who does but it has some special feautures and a lot more restrictions on what residents can do.
I have scheduled a zoom on Friday 26th to talk about how to get beyond this. You'll get an invitation.
The worst case scenario when verrge gardening without a public liability cover is that you can lose your house if sued. Keeping to the rules of the council makes this less likely IF you can prove that you are gardening as required. But how do you prove that? I can see a time when an online course with annual checks will allow the resident to access council public liability. How about a small payment to go towards PL provided by council? OR a bulk discount buy on landscapers' PL, managed by council? This the time to bring these questions forward for discussion with a a 'solve it don't shelve it' attitude.
I'm not sure that keeping to the rules of the council is a defence. If that was so, it is still the council being responsible for allowing whatever practice caused damage.
Keeping to the rules just makes your garden less risky so you are less likely to get into trouble.
The most likely issues are things like leaving garden tools out so people trip on them, having flimsy or poorly maintained seats that collapse if someone sits on them, and trip or slip hazards.
Inappropriate planting is more likely to generate a complaint to council who will then tell the resident that they must remedy the situation. Unfortunately some verge gardeners dig their heels in and this can snowball into big emotional and costly disputes. Insurance is irrelevant here.
Verge gardening was an issue at the last local elections. Gold Coast City Council refuses to allow any verge gardening. See this thread and particularly the comments from the councillor regarding public liability. https://www.facebook.com/StewartBrooker4Fadden/posts/pfbid0vs27xkjLZeYtWvU5uqz1B8sudj9FsFXfkkju86Dhn8DNUDHQbL5fcXtk9avFTzQ7l
Latest news on this topic is that 'you cant insure what you don't own". Therefore public liability remains with the council. it can be argued that tacit approval for the garden is given when an application for a verge garden is approved by a council, that that they therefor assume the Public liability.
That is exactly the reasoning used by the Gold Coast Council to refuse to have a verge garden policy (see facebook thread above). "Our City assessor’s have determined the liability risk that Brisbane has taken on is too great. Brisbane didn’t quantify the risk, just assumed it."
Well, Brisbane doesn't take on the liability risk. I have found one council who does but it has some special feautures and a lot more restrictions on what residents can do.
I have scheduled a zoom on Friday 26th to talk about how to get beyond this. You'll get an invitation.