If you let someone on your property, are you betting the farm? What’s your landowner liability?
Those are questions Judon Fambrough, senior lecturer and attorney at law at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, wants Texas landowners to seriously consider.
He authored “The Texas Deer Lease” in an effort to aid property owners and those wishing to access private property for hunting or recreational purposes. The free document, recently updated, addresses landowner liability with valuable information and tools.
“It talks about how they can avoid or lessen liability for a hunter or anyone who is coming on their property,” Fambrough told the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “If you let someone on your property, are you betting the farm? That’s the bottom line. If you haven’t really crossed your ‘T’s and dotted your ‘I’s, you may be betting the farm letting them on there because of your liability.”
The document contains information and forms useful to the landowner, including a waiver of liability, a waiver of liability for minors and an assumption of risk decree. Fambrough says the assumption of risk form protects the landowner from gross negligence, while waivers protect the landowner from ordinary negligence.
The document was updated in September 2015 to include the new agritourism statute, which limits the liability of landowners who engage in “agritourism.” The term means an activity conducted on land for recreational or educational purposes.
Click here to view “The Texas Deer Lease” document.
EYE OPENING, I HAVE BEEN ACCUSEDOF OVER PROTECHING/OVER REACHING MY RIGHTS BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN SMART ENOUGH TO ACUTALLY KNOW HOW THE LAW WORKS OR CAN WORK. THANK YOU
HARLAN BROWN
can’t print your lease contract
Hi Mike. It’s just a sample lease contract. You can find it at this link: https://assets.recenter.tamu.edu/Documents/Articles/570.pdf.
Great article and good waiver form. Thanks
Interesting article , For what it’s worth , if your business is interested a TAA Form 15-U , my business partner encountered a sample form here
https://goo.gl/svfZd0.I wish this website would provide a PDF form of the Agritourism waiver and suggested Release of Liability.
If you click “here,” you will see a sample document. You can find agritourism liability signs here: http://texasfarmbureau.org/agritourism-liability-signs-available-2/.