In regard to the HO 00 03 05 11 Homeowners 3 – Special Form, if the insured/homeowner rents a room plus access to use of the balance of the house such as the kitchen, bathrooms and all common areas of the house to a non-relative tenant, does the exception to coverage found in Section I. B Coverage C – Personal Property .9 THEFT b. (3) apply and does it exclude any and all property of the insured's/homeowner because the renter has use of the entire common area of the house as part of their monthly rental fee?

This exception reads b. This peril does not include loss caused by theft: (3) From that part of a “residence premises” rented by an “insured” to someone other than another “insured”; so if an unknown thief breaks into the house and steals the insured/homeowners TV from a common area does this exception to coverage apply because this common area is rented to someone other than an “insured”?

Michigan Subscriber

I can find no cases relevant to this situation. While the tenant has access to the whole house, he is really paying for access to the room to sleep in and to store his belongings. Having access to and renting are two different things; the intent is to exclude items in the space the tenant is renting, the room, and not the rest of the insured's belongings.

Seeing that it could be read the other way, that property in any area the tenant has access to is excluded for loss by theft, the language is ambiguous and the insured should get the benefit of the doubt. The theft of the TV should be covered.