Homeowners

Homeowners policies. What type of loss happened to your home?

Most homeowners policies are what’s called all risk, which means any damage to your home is covered unless it’s excluded in the policy itself. Some of the most common types of losses are listed below. Click on the picture to find out what you need to look for in your policy, what your insurance company will be looking for, and how to prepare your claim correctly.

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The policy forms written in Florida, and where to find your form number

HO-3 — special form

The one most Florida homeowners have. It covers the structure for all perils except those the policy specifically excludes, and covers your contents for the perils it names. Owner-occupied.

HO-5 — comprehensive form

The broader version of an HO-3. Structure and contents are both written on an all-perils-except-what’s-excluded basis. Less common in Florida, and generally underwritten more tightly.

HO-4 — renters

For a house or unit you rent. It covers your personal property and your liability. The building, the roof and the systems belong to the owner and to the owner’s policy.

HO-6 — condominium unit owner

Some coverage on the structure of the unit, but mostly your personal property and liability, plus loss assessment coverage for what the association assesses after a loss. Florida requires loss assessment coverage of at least $2,000 with a deductible no greater than $250. §627.714

HO-2 — broad form

Covers the structure only for the perils the policy lists. Narrower than an HO-3, and the difference shows up when a loss happens that the list doesn’t name.

HO-8 — modified coverage form

Less coverage than an HO-2, written mostly on older homes where the cost to rebuild runs well past what the house would sell for. Payment is often on a modified or actual cash value basis rather than full replacement.

HO-7 — mobile and manufactured homes

Some carriers write mobile and manufactured homes on this form rather than a standard homeowners policy. The coverages and the exclusions are not the same as an HO-3.

Dwelling forms — DP-1 and DP-3

Used where a property doesn’t qualify for a homeowners policy: a house you own and rent out, a seasonal or vacant property, or an older home. A DP-3 is the broader of the two. There is generally no personal property or liability the way an HO-3 carries it.

Two time limitations on every loss, one yours and one the carrier’s

Your clock

One year from the date of loss to give notice. Eighteen months to supplement. §627.70132
A sworn proof of loss, generally within 60 days. Most policies start the clock when the carrier requests it. Some policies start the clock from the date of loss, which means it can be running before anybody asks you for anything. Every policy is different, review yours to confirm which clock it is.
Reopening a closed claim runs on the same one-year clock. §627.70132
If you own a condominium unit, a loss assessment has its own rule, and it can run 90 days from the board’s vote to levy it. §627.714

Their clock

Fourteen days to give you the Homeowner Claims Bill of Rights after your first communication about the claim. §627.7142
Seven days to acknowledge a communication. §627.70131
Thirty days to physically inspect after the proof of loss. §627.70131
Sixty days to pay or deny, with a written explanation. A house sits inside this rule. §627.70131
Late payment earns interest from the date the insurer received notice, not from day sixty-one. Your policy can’t waive it. §627.70131
Every one of these runs on a written record. Report in writing or through the claims portal so there’s a date on it.

What to do while both clocks are running

What to do and what not to do in the first days is the same on any property claim, whatever the loss was. That list is on the home page — Dos and Don’ts for any claim.
What’s specific to your kind of loss is on that loss’s own page. Every one of them is in the Claims Handled grid above, and in the menu at the top of any page.

What to look for in your policy

Which form you have decides what is yours to insure and what belongs to somebody else, so start by finding the form number on your declarations page.

HO-3 — the house you own and live in

Coverage A on the dwelling, and whether it’s written replacement cost or actual cash value. §627.7011
Coverage B on other structures. Detached garage, shed, fence, dock, pool cage. It’s usually a percentage of Coverage A rather than a figure somebody chose.
Coverage C on personal property, and the special limits inside it. Jewelry, cash, firearms, silverware and business property are generally capped well below the contents limit.
Coverage D, loss of use or additional living expense. What it pays and how long it runs.
Your hurricane deductible and your all-other-perils deductible, and what each one is measured against. §627.701
Any separate roof deductible, or a roof payment schedule that pays a percentage based on the age of the roof.
Ordinance and law coverage, if you have it and its limit. On an older house the code upgrades are usually the largest figure nobody planned for.
Water damage sublimits, and the mold limit, which are two different numbers.
Whether windstorm is on this policy or placed separately with its own deductible. §627.712
Flood isn’t on a homeowners policy at all. It’s a separate policy, and rising water is where the two get argued about. Flood
Whether you have a wind mitigation inspection on file, and the discounts it earns you. §627.711
Yearly renewals often change coverages in previous policies. Review all endorsement changes yearly.

HO-4 — you rent, and the building is somebody else’s

Your personal property is yours to insure. The building, the roof and the systems are the owner’s.
The special limits on jewelry, cash, firearms and electronics apply here the same way they do on an HO-3.
Loss of use, for the time the unit can’t be lived in.
Improvements and betterments you paid for and installed. Read the lease alongside the policy, because the lease usually decides who insures them.
Whether the policy is replacement cost or actual cash value on contents. Depending on what the policy says, that decides whether the depreciation comes back to you or stays withheld.
Your landlord’s policy generally doesn’t cover your contents. This is the one that insures your personal property.

HO-6 — you own a condominium unit

Where the master policy stops and yours starts. That line comes out of the declaration and the statute, not out of an email from management. §718.111(11)
The items the master policy must exclude are generally the items your policy has to carry. Floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, cabinets, countertops and window treatments. Condominium associations
Coverage A on a unit owner policy, and whether the figure was ever supported by anything.
Loss assessment coverage, and its limit. This is what responds when the association assesses the members after a loss. §627.714
Whether the association’s deductible can be assessed to unit owners, and what your policy does about it.
Loss of use while the unit is uninhabitable, including an association-ordered evacuation.
Owner alterations. A remodeled kitchen or an enclosed lanai generally sits on your side of the line rather than the association’s.

DP-1 and DP-3 — a house you own and rent out

Which of the two do you have? A DP-1 generally covers only the perils it names and generally pays actual cash value; a DP-3 is the broader form and is generally written replacement cost.
Coverage A on the dwelling, and whether it’s replacement cost or actual cash value. On a rental that difference is usually the whole argument. §627.7011
Other structures. Detached garage, shed, fence, dock, pool cage.
Fair rental value or loss of rents, its limit, and how many months it runs. Your rent stops the day the unit comes offline, not the day the claim settles.
Personal property you supplied. Appliances, cabinets, flooring, window treatments, and everything in a furnished rental.
Your tenant’s belongings are generally the tenant’s, under a renters policy they may or may not carry.
Liability, which isn’t automatically on a dwelling form the way it is on an HO-3. Check whether it was added.
The vacancy and unoccupancy provisions. Read how your policy defines each word, which perils the exclusion suspends, and how many consecutive days it takes to trigger. Vacancy
Your hurricane deductible and your all-other-perils deductible, ordinance and law, and whether windstorm sits on this policy or was placed separately. §627.701
Flood is a separate policy here too, and it doesn’t pay loss of rents at all. Fair rental value on this policy responds only to a covered peril, and flood isn’t one — so on a flood loss the lost rent can end up with nowhere to go. Worth knowing before the water comes up, not after. Flood
More than a few units, or more than one building, and it stops being a dwelling form conversation. Multifamily

The call that matters

If you’ve had a loss to your home, call or email me. Not because you couldn’t handle it yourself, but because the decisions that determine what your claim is worth get made in the first days, and once they’re made they’re hard to undo. You don’t need to work out which loss it is, or which page it belongs on, before you pick up the phone. It’s a twenty-minute phone call about the loss, and I’ll tell you plainly where you stand.

You stay in control of your claim. That’s the whole point.

Call 561-281-6990 Email brian@thepeoplesadjuster.com