Legal Expenses Cover for your Holiday Lodge – What’s Included and Excluded

Legal expenses cover for your holiday lodge is one of those aspects of insurance cover that is sometimes overlooked. It can, however, be crucial in helping you overcome various issues that may arise for you as the owner of a holiday lodge, particularly if you are letting it out. This article is designed to help you think about whether you should add legal expenses cover as an optional benefit it to your holiday lodge insurance.

There are many situations which may arise for you as a holiday lodge owner, that may mean you will want to seriously consider the option of taking out legal expenses cover. Below we provide examples of possible scenarios which are covered under the legal expenses option. Be sure to read the list of exceptions too, as not everything is included. You must also always read the full policy wording to make sure you are happy with the cover provided and what to expect should you need to make a claim.

Before we get into the details, you may want to start your deliberations with the fact that, as long as you use one of our selected panel of solicitors, you are covered for legal expenses up to £50,000 in approved cases. Some of the more common uses for your legal expenses include:

  1. Defective Goods & Services:

As the owner of a holiday lodge, you may need to purchase various items (furniture, for instance) or services (cleaning for example) in connection with the holiday lodge that turn out, through no fault of your own, to be defective.  In approved cases, your legal expenses could cover you to pursue legal action against the person or organisation that sold, hired or leased you these defective goods or services.

  1. Property Infringement & Property Damage:

Your holiday lodge may be damaged by another party, your property may suffer nuisance or trespass or you may have your legal rights in relation to the holiday lodge infringed. Your legal expenses cover may help to meet the costs of sorting out this type of problem or pursuing legal action against he third party involved.

  1. Breach of Contract

Another related possibility is that you need to defend against being sued by another party for breach of contract, due to a problem that arises during a guest’s stay at your property or over a contract for goods and services which you enter into.

  1. Consumer Pursuit:

You may find yourself in a dispute with the park owner where your holiday lodge is situated. These disputes can arise from a range of issues such as:

  • Disputes in relation to pitch fees or utility fees.
  • Disputes concerning behaviour and conduct on the park and/or a breach of park rules.
  • Disputes over the possession of a pitch.
  • Disputes relating to the sale and purchase of park homes.
  1. Consumer Defence

You may need to defend yourself against an allegation of breach of contract to do with the sale of goods (in a private capacity) intended for private & personal use. This could, for instance, be camping gear or hiking gear, to name just two possibilities.

  1. Personal Injury:

In the very unfortunate event of an accident that leads to death or injury of someone staying at your lodge, for example, you may find yourself needing legal assistance in claiming or facing a claim against you for compensation.

  1. Criminal Prosecution Defence

In the event that criminal prosecutions arising from your ownership of the holiday lodge are brought against you, the legal expenses cover will provide cover for advisers costs to defend against these.

It is worth remembering that these are examples and specific cases need to be approved by your insurer before the expenses are covered. In this respect, you may want to refer to the list below of what is not included in your holiday lodge legal expenses cover:

You are not covered under Holiday Lodge Legal Expenses for:

  • Claims or proceedings that arise outside of the UK, IOM or Channel Islands
  • Costs for claims incurred without the insurers prior consent
  • Claims that arise between you and someone you live with or have lived with
  • Claims where the insurer deems there is no prospect of success
  • Costs for legal representation from outside the insurer’s approved solicitors list
  • The first £250 of any claim brought against you or pursued by you for property infringement.
  • Claims for stress, psychological or emotional injury unless linked to a physical injury are excluded for injury claims
  • Trespass or nuisance arising from divorce or matrimonial matters.
  • Financial compensation for physical damage in respect of a contract that you have entered into
  • Professional negligence in relation to services provided in connection with a matter not covered under this insurance
  • Advisers costs arising from any private prosecution
  • Claims made by or against Your insurance adviser, the Insurer, the Adviser or Us
  • Any claim You make which is false or fraudulent
  • Defending Legal Actions arising from anything You did deliberately or recklessly Advisers’ Costs if Your claim is part of a class action or will be affected by or will affect the outcome of other claims

This is a marketing article from multi-award-winning Park Home Assist.

Please note that all insurance cover is subject to acceptance of terms and conditions.

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Published – 01/03/24