Am I Liable If a Client Is Injured at My Home-Based Business in Ontario?

Are you liable if a client is hurt at your home business?

Usually yes, if you failed to take reasonable care to keep the premises safe and that failure caused the injury. Running a business out of your home does not exempt you from Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act. The Act defines an “occupier” broadly to include anyone in physical possession of premises, and “premises” explicitly covers structures used for business, not just retail or commercial buildings (Occupiers’ Liability Act, RSO 1990, c O.2, s 1). Once you fall into that definition, the Act replaces the old common-law rules and sets a single statutory duty: you must take reasonable care, in all the circumstances, to see that people entering your premises, and property they bring with them, are reasonably safe while there (s 2, s 3(1)). That duty applies to a client who books a consultation in your home office as much as it would to a customer in a storefront.

What counts as a failure to take reasonable care

The duty covers danger from the physical condition of your home (a loose stair railing, poor lighting in an entranceway) and danger from the business activity itself, such as equipment, tools, or a treatment you provide (s 3(2)). But an injury happening on your property does not by itself prove you are liable. Ontario courts require the injured client to pinpoint a specific act or failure to act that caused the injury (Nandlal v Toronto Transit Commission, 2014 ONSC 4760, para 8). Courts apply a common-sense standard: an occupier is not an insurer of every visitor’s safety, and the law does not expect you to guard against every conceivable risk or to be continuously monitoring for hazards that arise unpredictably (Nandlal, para 29). A slip on a hazard you knew about and ignored is a very different case from a freak accident nobody could have foreseen.

Conditions that change the outcome

Two statutory rules commonly shift the result once a claim is made.

• Shared fault reduces damages. If a court finds the client’s own carelessness contributed to the accident, damages are apportioned between you and the client in proportion to each party’s degree of fault, rather than an all-or-nothing result (Negligence Act, RSO 1990, c N.1, s 3).
• Waivers have limited effect. A liability waiver or contract term cannot restrict or exclude your duty to a client who isn’t a party to that contract, unless you took reasonable steps to bring the restriction to the client’s attention before the incident (Occupiers’ Liability Act, s 5(1), (3)). A waiver buried in fine print that the client never saw will likely not protect you.

Insurance and practical exposure

Ontario does not legally require a home-based business to carry business insurance, but the provincial government recommends it specifically to protect your business’s property, operations, and income against risks like a client injury claim (Ontario.ca, “Business insurance”). Because the Occupiers’ Liability Act imposes a real statutory duty regardless of your business size, the practical exposure exists the moment a client sets foot on your property, whether you’ve formalized that risk with a policy or not.

Time limits on a client’s claim

A client who is injured generally has two years from the day they discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the claim to sue you, under the basic limitation period in Ontario’s Limitations Act, 2002 (SO 2002, c 24, Sch B, s 4). This discovery-based clock means the two years does not necessarily start on the exact day of the accident if the injury or its cause only became apparent later.

What this means in practice

Liability under the Occupiers’ Liability Act turns on whether you took reasonable care, not on the mere fact that someone was hurt on your property. The client carries the burden of identifying what you did wrong or failed to fix, your own or shared fault can reduce (but not always eliminate) what you owe, and contractual waivers only work if properly disclosed. Because the statutory duty applies to any home used for business, regardless of insurance status, understanding these rules matters before a client ever visits.