Options for Liability-only coverage on home w/ foundation issues?

[Justin Adams]

This is my first post here, so please be gentle if I'm messing anything up! I'm entering the world of real estate investing with a 200-year-old fixer-upper triplex that has some foundation shifting going on. Nothing that can't be fixed, and it's not falling down tomorrow, but so far I can't find any insurance companies that will insure it.

Not a huge deal; with the price I'm paying, it could fall over and I wouldn't care that much! What concerns me is liability coverage. According to them, my primary residence homeowner's insurance liability coverage cannot be extended to cover the new property because there is a structure on the property, and an umbrella policy, apparently, will also not apply to a property with (a) no liability coverage of its own and (b) an existing structure.

What are my options for getting liability coverage on this property while I fix it up? We're talking about maybe 3 months until I can just get normal rental-property insurance, but during that time it will be vacant and have LOTS of contractors in there, so I don't want to be sitting with no coverage if something happens. This can't be the first time this has happened!

Thanks in advance!