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Coverages

A Short Primer on Property Valuations

Knowing and understanding the needs of clients requires you to understand the nuances of coverage and how they impact the insured’s business. One of the basics in property coverage, but often misunderstood, is property valuation. This article by a well-known underwriting expert takes you step by step through the various property valuation offerings.

Coverage for Business Personal Property Off Premises

A surveyor’s equipment was stolen while on a job site. The adjuster denied the claim under the CP 00 10 Property Off-premises coverage, citing the exclusion for such property while on a premises you “own, lease or operate,” and claiming the insured was “operating” on the premises. Is this a correct interpretation?

Habitational Hot Mess

The habitational market struggles with a lack of capacity, increasing non-renewals, higher deductibles and restricted underwriting. How can the industry adapt to this hard market? This article covers current habitational risks in the multi-family market and offers tips for agents trying to place coverage.

Insurance Coverage Concerns for Geothermal Heat Pump Systems

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), geothermal energy technology “harnesses the Earth’s heat,” and at least three types of technology that take advantage of that natural resource. These include ground source heat pumps, direct use geothermal and deep geothermal systems. This article provides a brief overview of this technology and some of the property insurance coverage pitfalls that can occur when homeowners and business owners use this technology.

Insuring Commercial Tenant Lease Requirements

A prospect’s lease requires that the tenant (him) be responsible for only the heating and air conditioning system (HVAC) under a provision that the tenant “maintain, repair and replace” the system. So I need to be certain that my insured’s policy has coverage for the HVAC system. Would the tenant’s improvements and betterments coverage in his CP 00 10 apply to the lessor’s HVAC system?

Post-COVID World Requires Agents to Learn Leasehold Interest Coverage

During COVID, many if not most employees were assigned to work from home. Office-based operations discovered that remote employees may be just as efficient as they were in the office. Additionally, many businesses calculated how much they could save by lessening or totally eliminating their real estate spend. One result of COVID’s work-from-home (WFH) mandate, anticipated to exist for several years, is an increase in vacancy rates in commercial office buildings. Because landlords don’t make money when space is vacant, the anticipation is that landlords, as the US reopens, will begin cutting lease rates on commercial office space. Landlords will offer and Tenants will be able to take advantage of favorable lease rates over the next year or longer.

Seven Important Considerations Required to Properly Insure “Fixtures”

Agents learn early that there are two types of property, real property and personal property. Real property is generally defined as land and everything attached to the land such as by roots, by being embedded in the land, permanently resting on the land such as a building or property permanently attached to the building. Personal property is essentially everything that isn’t real property. But there is a middle ground – fixtures. Fixtures begin life as personal property but become part of real property by attachment; however, they maintain their individual identity. Obviously, then, fixtures should be insured as real property. Or should they? Is it really that easy?

Described Premises Under Commercial Property Forms

An insured had an open lot business and stored a substantial amount of business personal property (BPP) in an enclosed shed. They did not insure the shed. Thieves stole $5,000 worth of BPP. The adjuster says it isn't covered because it wasn't in a DESCRIBED building, but it would have been covered if in the open! Is this correct?

How Much Debris Removal Coverage Do I Need?

In the event of partial losses, the limit of insurance is usually adequate to include the cost of debris removal. However, in some cases, the limit might not be adequate or the commercial property form's debris removal sublimit might restrict coverage. That begs the question, 'How much debris removal coverage do I need?' For this article, we polled the VU faculty, some experienced agents, and a group of risk managers to get their thoughts.

Is Equipment Building or Personal Property?

Building coverage includes personal property owned by you that is used to maintain or service the building or structure or premises, including: appliances used for refrigerating, ventilating, cooking, dishwashing or laundering. Does this apply to any laundry equipment (e.g., a public laundromat) or only if it is actually used to 'service the building' (e.g., a hotel linen laundry)?

Tenant Improvements & Betterments...OWNER Beware!

If you insure the tenant of a building and they install improvements and betterments, you certainly want to make sure they're adequately insured, particularly if the lease makes the tenant responsible for damages. However, if you insure the building owner, they must be just as vigilant in updating their coverage. Here's why....

That Depends on What the Meaning of the Word "Are" Is

As every self-respecting Insurance Geek knows, one word in an insurance policy (in fact, even a punctuation mark...but that's another story) can make all the difference in coverage or lack thereof. So, with apologies to Bill Clinton for the title of this article, let's take a look at an actual claim that boiled down to a single word...

Trees and Commercial Property Coverage Forms

Much has been written about trees and homeowners policies but what about commercial lines forms? Do they cover trees differently than personal lines forms? And what about the business income exposure presented by the loss of trees and their removal? This article examines these issues and references related articles from the VU library.

What Deductible Do I Need?

With increased costs in this hard market, many insureds want to reduce their premiums. One way to do that is through the use of deductibles. But, how large a deductible is appropriate for your insureds? In this article, we'll give you some tips from our faculty and several top risk managers that may help you and your clients.

When Are Improvements & Betterments "Acquired"?

An I&B claim was denied because the owner of the leased area had not made any betterments or improvements at his own expense since the lease began...all of the improvements were made just prior to assuming the lease. His policy covers I&Bs 'acquired' by the tenant. What does 'acquired' mean?