{"id":7923,"date":"2016-10-17T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsignblog.com\/blog\/?p=7923"},"modified":"2020-07-16T08:32:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T12:32:31","slug":"warning-hidden-hazards-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/warning-hidden-hazards-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I Need a Warning Sign for My Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve bought a piece of real estate, inspected the property, and you\u2019ve discovered that there\u2019s something potentially dangerous on your property. Maybe it\u2019s an unstable porch, or exposed wiring, or a part of your house that\u2019s under construction.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are your obligations to other people who come on your land? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether someone can sue you for injuries on your land depends on whether they\u2019re a trespasser, or someone who\u2019s there without an explicit contract (\u201ca licensee\u201d, like a party guest), or someone who\u2019s on the property with your contractual permission (\u201can invitee\u201d, like a contractor, or a customer).<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with trespassers. A trespasser is someone who\u2019s on your land without your permission.\u00a0<\/span>A trespasser generally enters your land at their own risk<\/span><\/a>. There\u2019s three exceptions to this, though. First<\/span>, if you know that there are trespassers crossing your property, you\u2019re obligated to warn them of hidden hazards<\/span><\/a>, but you\u2019re not obliged to make the property safe. Second, if your property contains things that might attract trespassing children, it\u2019s your obligation to make the property safe. (<\/span>The classic example is a swimming pool.)<\/span><\/a> Third, you can\u2019t set deadly traps for intruders<\/span><\/a> in the absence of an actual danger that justifies using lethal force.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"trespasser-blog\"<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s licensees. Licensees are people who enter your property without a contractual relationship– party guests, for example, or emergency service workers. <\/span>You\u2019re obliged to warn them against known hazards, or to protect them against those hazards by taking safety precautions<\/span><\/a>. (A note: <\/span>Licensees don\u2019t exist everywhere. Some states have abolished the distinction between licensees and invitees<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, there are invitees, people who enters your land for your benefit or to do business. This means people like a gardener, an electrician, or a customer. For invitees, your obligations are fairly simple: you should inspect the premises for hazards, and make the premises reasonably safe against those hazards. These hazards could be anything from high-voltage wiring, to wild animals, to unreinforced masonry in an earthquake zone. But you\u2019re not required to protect against hazards that you had no way of discovering with a reasonable inspection of the premises. (<\/span>A good example of this would be an unexpected sinkhole.<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, the safeguards you need to put in place depend on the hazard, and who you\u2019re expecting on your property. The safeguards to protect against <\/span>wild alligators in Florida<\/span><\/a> are very different from the measures needed to <\/span>protect a pool<\/span><\/a>. And sometimes, there are very detailed regulations on what measures you need to take– if you have any questions, contact an attorney or an architect.<\/span><\/p>\n

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