There are really two parts to this question:
- Is landscaping covered by insurance if it is damaged by fire?
- Am I insured if I cause a fire that damages someone’s property?
Is landscaping covered by insurance if it is damaged by fire?
To the first question, generally the answer is no, most house insurance policies won’t cover landscaping. However, some (such as Tower’s Premium policy) do offer an allowance for landscaping, such as this one:
We’ll pay for the replacement of your lawn, flowers, trees, hedges or shrubs if they are damaged when your house suffers loss caused by:
- fire, or
- impact from a vehicle
where a claim is accepted by us.
We pay this benefit in addition to your sum insured.
We’ll pay the reasonable cost of replacement up to $5,000 for each event.
Am I insured if I cause a fire that damages someone’s property?
To the second question, the answer is generally yes. If you are liable for the fire your public liability insurance should cover the losses suffered by other people, such as compensating them for their burned-out property.
In the past, landowners where a fire started were automatically responsible for paying all the associated Fire & Emergency call out costs, regardless of whether they were negligent. This has changed with the repeal of the Forest & Rural Fires Act and the enacting of the Fire & Emergency NZ Act in 2017. Now, instead of having to pay all the fire call out costs, you may be subject to fines and other criminal penalties, such as imprisonment if found to be negligent.
If the fire was accidental and you had taken all reasonable precautions to prevent it then you may not be legally liable for damage that results.
To be covered by your insurance, what you were doing when you caused the fire would need to be in line with the occupation insured by the policy. For example, if your policy insures you for your work as a landscaper, but you happen to be re-roofing a house at the time of the fire, the policy may not cover it.
Bear in mind that a public liability policy only compensates for the loss someone has suffered, it won’t replace old property with new property, as this would constitute “betterment” to the third party. So, what you are insured for (and what you are legally liable for anyway) is the value of the property after taking into account its age and condition. In the case of landscaping, in some cases, such as with mature trees the older they are the more valuable they may be.
If a third party hasn’t insured outbuildings or equipment or other assets that are damaged by fire then they will only be able to hold you liable for the actual cost of those items, not the replacement (new) cost to replace them.
The Fire & Emergency Act New Zealand 2017 imposes fines and other criminal penalties should you be found negligent in respect of a fire. These are the relevant clauses of the new act:
- Section 60 imposes liability on a person who causes or allows a fire to get out of control and spread to vegetation or property. On conviction, an individual will be liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years, or a fine not exceeding $300,000. In any other case other than an individual, liability is for a fine not exceeding $600,000.
- Section 61 imposes the same liability for those who cause, or allow, a substance to burn or smoulder in open air and leave the substance burning or smouldering in a way that increases the likelihood of harm or damage arising from the start or spread of fire.
The purpose of statutory liability insurance is to cover fines & penalties imposed in legislation, so provided you have both public liability & statutory liability insurance you’ve covered you bases with regard to the potential costs from a causing a fire.
In a Nutshell
Generally, property insurance doesn’t cover landscaping, although there are some house policies that include modest allowances for this.
Public liability insurance only covers your legal liability to compensate someone’s loss, it won’t pay for betterment, such as to replace old property with new.
Public liability insurance can cover your liability for damage caused by fire and statutory liability insurance can cover fines imposed if you are prosecuted for negligence.