Public Liability Insurence

David Price
Member - 80 posts

No, If you are the renter then it is your hall your building. So you are responcible for those you rent it to, it would be a bit like asking anyone renting the hall to bring their own fire extingusgers in case of a fire.

You set the rules in your hire agreement, and if you want to include insurances in that you can, ie damage, breakages etc, but not Public Liability insurance, if someone has an accident tripping up a loose stair nosing or slip over in the loos because of a leak, it is your responcibilty to ensure that the building is fit for purpose.

Many companies have gone down this route to raise extra funds, without really giving any thought to what would happen in the event of an accident, assuming that your company already has public liability insurance I don't see a problem. On the other hand you may want to check with your general insurers that you are covered to use the hall for this kind of function, in case of a fire?

Smita Jamdar - Martineau Solicitors
Online advisor - 17 posts

There is no legal requirement for anyone to hold public liability insurance, although many organisations choose to have this kind of policy in place to protect itself from such liability. Unless you impose it as a condition of hiring the hall, there would similarly be no requirement for the person hiring the space to have a public liability policy. Before letting out the hall, you may wish to check the terms of your own public liability insurance to see if it covers you for hiring out the space and any associated activities. It may be straightforward for an organisation that wishes to hire your hall, to obtain its own public liability insurance or it may already hold it, but to require individuals to have such a policy could be offputting. You may therefore, choose not to insist on the other party holding its own inurance if you think it would have an adverse affect on bookings.