Glass or Safety Glazing Material
This provision affords coverage for glass breakage that is caused directly by earth movement and also extends to direct physical loss to property that is caused by the glass fragments. For purposes of this coverage, glass means glass or glazing material that is part of the building (i.e., windows and skylights), storm doors, or storm windows.
It does not include glass used in picture frames, mirrors, or glassware. No glass coverage, except as the result of earthquake or earth movement, exists if the building has been vacant for a period of sixty days prior to the date of loss. The glass coverage is included within the policy limit and is not in addition to the policy limit.
Landlords' Furnishings
The landlord's furnishing coverage affords a $2,500 per loss sublimit, within the personal property policy limits, for appliances, carpeting, and other household furnishings in apartments on the residence premises rented to others or held for rental to others. Protection from theft is not covered under this provision.
Ordinance or Law
This is an important coverage and one that the insured should check carefully with hisor her agent, particularly with respect to the question of what form of replacement cost coverage the policy may provide. Many insurers have in the past experienced coverage disputes with policyholders over replacement cost policies. Often, these disputes have had their origins in the fact that the insured did not maintain policy limits consistent with increasing home values and increasing costs of labor and materials used in construction, rebuilding, and repair. Insurance For Your Home Business
Further, as the result of various catastrophic kinds of losses stemming from hurricanes, tornadoes, major wildfires, and earthquakes, various governmental bodies have enacted building codes and other laws that have resulted in increased construction costs after a loss has occurred. Examples include prohibition of replacement of roofs with wood shake shingles and methods' of construction intended to help resist the force of windstorms or earthquakes.
As the result of these combined factors, many homeowners insurers began modifying their replacement cost provisions and increased cost of construction provisions to include insurance-to-value requirements or eliminate so-called guaranteed replacement cost provisions. Often, these modifications to replacement cost coverage provisions have been implemented through endorsements and are not contained in the insurers' basic policy forms.
It therefore is crucial that you determine what form of replacement cost coverage, if any, is included in your policy. You must determine whether that coverage includes coverage for the costs of compliance with changed building code requirements, and if not, whether more complete coverage is available.
This additional coverage provides that the insured may use up to 10% of the dwelling policy limit for increased costs incurred due to the enforcement of ordinances or laws that require or regulate the construction, demolition, remodeling, renovation, or repair of the part of the covered dwelling or other structure that has been damaged by a covered peril. This coverage also extends to the costs of demolition and reconstruction of an undamaged part of the building if:
- such demolition is required by ordinance or law as a result of covered damage to another part of the dwelling or other structure or
- it is necessary to complete the remodeling or repair of covered damage to another part of the building.
Grave Markers
Covering the personal property peril is a $5,000 sublimit applicable to grave markers, including mausoleums, whether on or off the residence premises.
Proprietary Homeowners Policy Forms
When it comes to additional coverages, the policies offered by insurers that use their own proprietary forms have additional coverages that are generally similar to the foregoing provisions of the ISO HO 2 and HO 3 homeowners policies. There is, however, more variation in these coverages from insurer to insurer than in any other portion of the policy. The variations include both the categories of property subject to limitation, as well as the limits of liability applicable to the limitations.
Some policies have no felled trees coverage. Others have more limited collapse coverage. Others do not include homeowners association loss assessment coverage, except as an optional coverage for a premium surcharge.
An important additional coverage included in some homeowners policies is sewer back-up coverage. This is often an excluded peril. It is a significant additional coverage that extends to loss caused by water that backs up through sewers and drains. Sewer backups can cause significant losses to both the structure and contents.
When this coverage is included additionally, it is a significant broadening of coverage compared with what is afforded by the ISO HO 3 homeowners policy. In short, this is an area where comparison shopping based on coverages provided, rather than price, is well worth your time.
As stated, the additional coverages of homeowners policies can be extensive and complex, and include many coverages of which the average policyholder may not be fully aware. This section of your policy is worth taking a few minutes to review. It is also an area in which competitive price quotes can be highly misleading, unless you have specimen copies of the policies under consideration to review and compare.
Hope you have a better understanding about Insurance For Your Home Business. Next, I'll tell you about some exclusions of insurance.
