Trampolines, Pools and Dogs: What Makes a Michigan Home Hard to Insure

Every Michigan homeowner has heard a version of the story: a neighbor got dropped over a trampoline, or a pool, or the wrong breed of dog. Most of it is true, and the versions of it you find online tend to be written from the statute book rather than from the underwriting desk. Here is what carriers actually do about dogs, trampolines and pools in Michigan — including where the consumer protections you have read about stop working.

Dogs: what actually happens when you own a restricted breed

Start with the outcome, because that is what you need to plan around. If you own a breed on a carrier's restricted list — commonly pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, Chows, Akitas, Great Danes and wolf hybrids — three things can happen when you go looking for homeowners insurance in Michigan:

• Some carriers will not quote you at all. The breed screens you out at application. This is the most common outcome and it is why "I heard Michigan protects dog owners" is dangerous advice to act on.
• Some will quote with a breed surcharge. In the field we see these run 25 percent to 100 percent on the premium. A carrier that doubles your rate has not technically turned you down, but it has said no in every way that affects your budget. Treat a surcharged quote as a number to compare, not as a win.
• Some will write it at a normal rate. They exist. Finding them is the entire job, and it is why the number of carriers your agent represents matters more on this than on almost anything else.

Where you do have real footing: an existing policy. If you already have coverage in force and then bring the dog home, your carrier is on much weaker ground trying to cancel or non-renew you over the breed alone. Michigan's Essential Insurance Act limits the grounds an insurer may use against an existing policyholder, and a dog's breed by itself is a difficult one for them to stand on. That protection is genuine — it just does nothing for you at the application counter.

So the practical rule is simple: getting a dog while insured is a much stronger position than shopping for insurance while owning one. If you are planning both a move and a puppy, do them in that order.

Three limits worth knowing on the existing-policy side:

• It reaches owner-occupants and tenants only, in buildings of four units or fewer. A landlord policy on a rental you do not live in sits outside it.
• Group, franchise and blanket coverage is excluded — a policy bought through a group program does not get this treatment.
• Your dog's actual history always counts. Claim experience is a permitted underwriting ground in its own right. The breed alone is one thing; a paid bite claim is another entirely, and it will follow you.

Assistance animals are exempt from breed surcharges under the federal Fair Housing Act. Legislation is pending that would close the surcharge gap — House Bill 5580, introduced February 24, 2026 and referred to the House Insurance Committee, would bar denial, cancellation and premium increases based on breed. It has not moved since, and it is not law.

Your city is a separate problem

Separately from insurance: Michigan has no statewide ban on breed-specific local ordinances. Senate Bill 239 of 2015 would have created one — it passed the Senate 25 to 11, went to the House Local Government Committee, and died there. Local pit bull ordinances remain in force in some Michigan communities. So the same dog can cost you a carrier surcharge and run into a township ordinance at the same time. Check both before you buy in a new community.

And Michigan is a strict liability state for bites

MCL 287.351 is short and unforgiving: "If a dog bites a person, without provocation while the person is on public property, or lawfully on private property, including the property of the owner of the dog, the owner of the dog shall be liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness."

There is no "first bite is free" under the statute. The defenses are provocation — which Michigan courts have held can be unintentional — and the injured person not being lawfully on the property. Note the statute covers bites; a dog that knocks someone down is handled under ordinary negligence, where the owner's knowledge of the dog's behavior does matter.

Nationally, insurers paid $1.86 billion across 28,450 dog-related injury claims in 2025 — a claim count up more than 25 percent over the prior year — at an average of $65,450 per claim. Note the direction of those two numbers: far more claims, but average severity actually fell about 5.5 percent. No Michigan-specific figure is published. We cover the coverage side in does homeowners insurance cover dog bites in Michigan.

Trampolines: expect conditions, not a flat no

Trampolines are the most common single reason a Michigan homeowner gets a letter. Carriers handle them three ways: an outright decline, a liability exclusion endorsement that keeps the policy but drops trampoline claims, or acceptance with conditions.

What carriers actually ask for. Most will require a safety net at minimum. Many go further and want the trampoline inside a fenced yard with a locking gate. If you are buying one, assume that is the price of keeping your policy and budget for it.

Here is the part worth understanding, because it changes what you should focus on. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, in its position statement on trampoline safety, concluded: "No data show a reduction in injury rates for trampolines outfitted with netting and other safety equipment."

That sounds like it contradicts the carrier requirement. It does not — it just tells you what the net is really for. The net and the locked gate are about access control, not about protecting the child who is supposed to be jumping. They exist to stop the neighbor's kid from wandering in and using it unsupervised. That is the claim carriers are actually worried about, and it is also the claim most likely to become a liability suit against you rather than a medical bill for your own family.

The underlying injury data supports that emphasis:

• About 105,000 trampoline injuries were treated in U.S. emergency departments in 2014, the year the AAOS statement measured, and more than a million cumulatively over the prior decade. More than 90 percent were sustained by children, usually ages 5 to 14.
• Roughly three-quarters of injuries happen when two or more children are on the mat at once — which is exactly what happens when unsupervised kids find an unsecured trampoline.
• About one-third of injuries are fractures, most commonly to the upper extremity.
• Most occur at home, and more than half happen on the mat itself rather than from falling off.

So: net it, fence it, lock the gate, and do not let it be the neighborhood attraction when you are not home. Then tell your agent it is there. A trampoline your carrier does not know about is a coverage dispute waiting to happen.

Pools: the insurance requirement is stricter than the rulebook

The order of operations here surprises people. We have seen plenty of Michigan pools written without a fence — building requirements vary by community and how they get enforced varies even more. So do not assume you are non-compliant just because your pool is open.

But for insurance purposes, treat a fence with a locking gate as the requirement. That is what carriers want to see, it is what keeps you insurable across the widest range of companies, and it is the single best thing you can do to keep a pool from becoming a liability claim. If you are adding a pool, put the fence in the budget from the start rather than finding out at renewal.

What a carrier-acceptable barrier generally looks like — these track the standards used in Michigan's residential code, and they are a reasonable spec to build to regardless of what your township enforces:

• Barrier at least 48 inches high, measured on the side facing away from the pool.
• No more than a 2-inch gap underneath, and no opening large enough to pass a 4-inch sphere.
• A self-closing, self-latching gate that swings outward away from the pool, with a locking device.
• If the house itself forms part of the barrier, a power safety cover or alarms on the doors and windows with direct pool access.
• On above-ground pools, a ladder or steps that are removable, lockable in an unusable position, or coverable.

The reason carriers insist is not abstract. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports an average of 376 pool and spa drowning deaths per year among children under 15 across 2021 to 2023, with about 80 percent of victims under age 5 and more than 70 percent occurring in residential settings. The CDC notes that more children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than from any other cause.

Check your township too — some Michigan communities require five or six feet, specific alarms, or particular cover types, and local rules can be stricter than anything above.

Carrier conditions beyond the fence — no diving board, no slide, a minimum liability limit — are underwriting practice rather than law, and they vary a great deal between companies. That variation is exactly why a pool is worth shopping rather than accepting the first answer you get.

Attractive nuisance: yes, it applies in Michigan

You will find blog posts claiming Michigan rejected the attractive nuisance doctrine. That is wrong, and it is a dangerous thing for a homeowner to believe.

Michigan adopted the doctrine at common law and codified it in 2014 at MCL 554.583(2)(d). A possessor of land generally owes no duty to a trespasser — but may be liable to a child trespasser injured by an artificial condition where all five statutory elements are met: the possessor knew or should have known children were likely to trespass there; knew or should have known the condition posed an unreasonable risk of death or serious harm to a child; the child was too young to appreciate the risk; the utility of maintaining the condition and the burden of eliminating the danger were slight compared with the risk to the child; and the possessor failed to exercise reasonable care.

The Michigan House's own legislative analysis of that bill used a pool as the textbook example: "A pool is an example of an attractive nuisance. Children often do not recognize the danger a pool of any size can hold, or don't know that a pool cover cannot hold their weight."

A trampoline is an artificial condition too. And note this doctrine concerns trespassers — a neighbor's child you invited over is covered by ordinary premises liability, which imposes a higher duty of care, not a lower one.

The less obvious things that get homes declined

• Roof age — but with a Michigan caveat. MCL 500.2117(2)(b) requires physical-condition underwriting rules to be objective, peril-related, and set "without regard to the age of the structure," tied to a specific code or manufacturer specification. DIFS also warns in Bulletin 2025-12-INS that "mere cosmetic roof issues, such as discoloration or streaking, are not valid grounds for policy cancellation or nonrenewal," and that if aerial imagery drives the decision the insurer should give you copies and a chance to respond.
• Claim history — and the threshold is not the floor you think. The CLUE database retains up to seven years of claims. The statutory frequency ground for non-renewal is three paid claims in three years above a dollar threshold, but do not read that as protection: in practice carriers non-renew for considerably less than that, and they have other grounds available. Two claims in a short span is enough to put you on a list at a lot of companies, and a single large water claim can do it. If you are deciding whether to file a small claim, that calculation matters more than the statute does.
• Vacancy — narrower than the boilerplate. MCL 500.2117(2)(g) allows underwriting on a dwelling unoccupied more than 60 days only if there is evidence of an intent to vacate or keep it vacant. Both halves are required.
• Aluminum branch wiring. The CPSC found that homes built before 1972 with aluminum branch wiring are 55 times more likely to have a connection reach "fire hazard conditions" than copper-wired homes — and that failing connections "seldom provide easily detected warning signs." Homes built before 1965 are unlikely to have it.
• Buried or aboveground heating oil tanks. Michigan EGLE puts it bluntly: "Most insurance companies will not cover the cost of cleaning up a release from a heating oil tank," and an owner whose tank has not been properly maintained "will likely be considered liable for a release." Unused underground tanks must be removed within one year of last use, or filled to capacity with inert material if removal would compromise the structure.
• Knob-and-tube wiring, fuse boxes and wood-burning stoves all draw carrier attention. Michigan's constraint still applies: the rule must tie to a specific code or manufacturer provision and be on file with DIFS, not rest on the equipment's age alone.

The bottom line

Most of what makes a Michigan home hard to insure is manageable if you deal with it before you are shopping under pressure. Net and fence the trampoline. Fence the pool and put a lock on the gate. If you own a restricted breed, know going in that some carriers will not quote you at all and others will quote a number that amounts to the same thing. None of that means you are uninsurable — it means the spread between carriers is very wide, and finding the right one is the actual work.

J. Jacobs & Associates has been an independent agency in Lake Orion since 1981, and placing homes other agents have given up on is a real part of what we do. If you have a decline letter, a non-renewal notice, a pool, a trampoline, a dog, or all five, send us the letter and your current declarations page and we will tell you honestly whether the standard market will take it. Review Michigan home insurance, request a free quote, or call (248) 693-6455. If you already have a notice in hand, start with what to do about a Michigan non-renewal notice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Michigan insurer refuse to cover me because of my dog's breed?

At application, yes — carriers can and do decline to quote someone who already owns a restricted breed, and others will quote with a surcharge that commonly runs 25 to 100 percent. Your position is much stronger if you already have a policy in force and then get the dog: Michigan's Essential Insurance Act limits the grounds an insurer can use against an existing policyholder, and breed alone is a hard one for them to stand on. That protection reaches owner-occupants and tenants in buildings of four units or fewer, and does not extend to landlord, group or blanket policies.

Is Michigan a strict liability state for dog bites?

Yes. Under MCL 287.351, a dog owner is liable for damages to a person bitten without provocation while lawfully on public or private property, "regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness." There is no one-bite rule under the statute. The defenses are provocation and the injured person not being lawfully present.

Do I have to remove my trampoline to get homeowners insurance in Michigan?

Usually not, but expect conditions. Most carriers require a safety net at minimum, and many want the trampoline inside a fenced yard with a locking gate. Some decline outright and some exclude trampoline liability by endorsement while keeping the rest of the policy. Worth understanding why: the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found no data that netting reduces injury rates for the person jumping. The net and the locked gate are about keeping unsupervised children off it — which is the claim that turns into a liability suit against you.

What does Michigan require for a pool fence?

Building requirements vary by community and by how strictly they are enforced — plenty of Michigan pools exist without a fence. For insurance purposes, though, treat a fence with a locking gate as the requirement, because that is what carriers want and it keeps you insurable across the most companies. A good spec: a barrier at least 48 inches high, no more than a 2-inch gap beneath, no opening passing a 4-inch sphere, and a self-closing, self-latching gate that swings away from the pool. Check your township, which may require more.

Does the attractive nuisance doctrine apply in Michigan?

Yes. Michigan recognizes it at common law and codified it in 2014 at MCL 554.583(2)(d). A landowner can be liable to a child trespasser injured by an artificial condition when all five statutory elements are met. Michigan's own legislative analysis of that statute names a swimming pool as the example. Invited guests are covered by ordinary premises liability, which imposes a higher duty of care.

How many claims before my Michigan policy is non-renewed?

Fewer than most people expect. There is a statutory frequency ground built around three paid claims in three years above a dollar threshold, but do not treat that as a floor — in practice carriers non-renew for less, and they have other grounds available. Two claims in a short span puts you on a list at a lot of companies, and one large water loss can do it by itself. The national CLUE database keeps seven years of claim history. If you are weighing whether to file a small claim, that is the real calculation.

What if no company will insure my Michigan home?

The Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association is the state's residual market, codified at MCL 500.2901 and following. You qualify by having the property inspected within the preceding six months, making a good-faith effort to find coverage in the regular market, and having no unpaid prior premium. It is more expensive by statute. You must apply through a licensed agent, and if MBPIA declines you it must give you a written statement of the conditions preventing acceptance and what would fix them.