Insurance coverage Q & A: Which policy covers items damaged when moving homes?

PropertyCasualty360.com editor’s note: Every claim is different, and some insurance policies can be difficult to interpret for unique situations. FC&S Expert Coverage Interpretation, the recognized authority on insurance coverage interpretation and analysis for the P&C industry, makes it simple to find credible answers to your complicated coverage questions. The following letter was edited for length and clarity. 

If an insured buys a new home and when moving from their current home to the new home, contents are damaged, is the claim covered under the current homeowner policy or the policy purchased for the new home?

Both policies are in force at the time of the move.

New York subscriber

The standard HO 03 states that when property is being moved to a newly acquired principal residence, the property is covered for 30 days from the time the insured begins to move the property. This is to allow the insured to get everything moved to the new residence.

Your insured has another policy in force at the new property already. This means the personal property is covered anywhere in the world, including the old dwelling. However, there is a limit of $1,500 or 10% of coverage C for property usually located at an “insured’s” residence, other than a “residence premises,” which the new property isn’t quite yet until the insured is living there. Remember “residence premises” is the one-family dwelling where you reside and is shown in the declarations.

Even if the new premises is considered a principal residence, the limit would apply if the first residence is no longer considered the primary residence. That change in status would take place mid-move, depending on when the insured started staying at the new residence instead of the old residence.

There’s also the other insurance clause, which states that if a loss is covered by another policy, then only a proportion of the loss that the limit of liability applies under this policy bears to the total amount of insurance covering the loss. But I think you’d run into issues with definitions and which location was the “residence premises” between the two policies.

If the insured is taking a few days to move from one location to another, then it makes sense to file any claim for property damaged during the move under the first policy, since that’s where the property was first insured. Coverage extends from the first house completely during the 30-day moving period, while the coverage from the new residence only provides minimal coverage for property not at that residence — it only provides coverage if the property is being moved to a new residence, not from an old residence.

The policy doesn’t specify beyond these parameters what to do when an insured moves and has insurance on both residences. Unless the insured is taking more than 30 days to move from one dwelling to the other, it makes sense to file under the first dwelling, but to advise the insurer that another policy exists for the second, new residence.

This letter has been edited for clarity. 

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