We have a half acre piece of property on Long Island NY that is vacant.....no house or any structure on it, just trees. There are homes on all three adjacent properties. We've owned it for years but just now starting to wonder if it should have liability insurance coverage. If a tree falls on a neighboring house or someone taking a shortcut thru the property falls and gets hurt, am l liable?

I've tried the Google machine for info but all I get is biased info from insurance companies.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance.

I don't think you can get an answer on a forum. But data to think about:

1. Cost and coverage
2. Value you are protecting
3. Known risks. Are there common paths being used regularly? Are there homes near the property line? Do you have unhealthy trees close to those structures? How violent are the storms there? Are there any squatters?
4. Unknown risks. You have to figure that out.

Start answering those questions and you can make a decision

I have Texas farm bureau for rural acreage but they also insure some vacant lots for me. Really reasonable rates that make it a no-brainer. Looks like there is a New York farm bureau. Id start with them.

A lot of home companies will automatically extend liability to residential lots owned by the insured. As long as its not used for any commercial activities and no construction is going on, I would check with your primary residence home company on that first.

If they don't offer that you can get land liability from a number of different carriers, looking at somewhere between $500-1K annually. So if you have assets might be worth it if your home company doesn't offer this liability extension.

i can confirm my state farm homeowner's policy extends liability coverage to my undeveloped raw land. but its only like 10k of liability per person (at no extra cost, its already included). i just have to tell them the property address so they can add it into their system.

Texas and Oklahoma.


in texas, you can view sample policies on state website. presumably NY has similar options.
https://www.opic.texas.gov/resources/policy-comparison-tool/homeowners-insurance-comparison/?insurance_id=2

here is the state farm language:
https://compare.opic.texas.gov/storage/fileuploads/StateFarm.HW-2143.pdf

"insured location" means:

h. vacant land owned by or rented to an insured.

For the purposes of this definition, vacant land does not include:
(1) farm land;
(2) land containing a residence; or
(3) land containing fences, corrals, boat docks, tool sheds, barns, grain bins, and similar structures, unless they are used solely for the personal use of the insured; or i. farm land (without buildings), rented or held for rental to others, but not to exceed a total of 500 acres, regardless of the number of locations.

Is there anything at all on the property?
Is it fenced?
Are there no trespassing signs posted?
I don't know anything about New York, but a liability policy shouldn't be that much, assuming there aren't any hazards and no construction activities are anticipated on the property.

The outcome was a little different than I expected, but you learn something new every day. I thought for sure companies like Hartford, AAA, Liberty Bibbidy and other normal Homeowners Insurance Companies would insure vacant land, but apparently, they don't.....at least up here.

We checked NY Farm Bureau as someone suggested, but they don't sell insurance. We don't solely own any other property here, so we weren't able to extend coverage from there.

We wound up going to a broker here on Long Island who offered a commercial general liability policy with USLI as they are one of the few that cover vacant land. Cost is $866 per year for $1,000,000 coverage. If nothing else, it's peace of mind.

Appreciate everyone who offered advice.

This is a question for your insurance agent.