VU Resources

Tenants I&B and Insurable Interest

The carrier has denied payment for covered damage to our insured tentant’s improvements and betterments based on a clause in the lease that states that all additions, alterations, etc. become the property of the landlord and, consequently, the insured has no insurable interest in that property. The adjuster who wrote the letter advised me that she is instructed…

Profit & Overhead When Insureds Repair Their Own Damage

Your insured is a contractor. He wants to repair insured damage to his own building to ensure that the job is done right. Or, let’s say he negligently causes damage to a customer’s property that is covered by his CGL policy and wants to make repairs himself. Is the insurer obligated to pay an amount…

Coinsurance and Valuation – Part 2

Under the valuation condition in a property policy, you can choose to settle a claim using ACV instead of RC (even if you have RC on the declarations page). In such a case, if there is a coinsurance penalty, is it based on ACV or RC? In this article, which builds on a prior article, we’ll…

Coinsurance and Valuation – Part 1

The building is currently insured for replacement cost. The insurer did a new valuation and said the policy limit is 70% of the RC value, which would result in a coinsurance penalty for a partial loss. Is the insured who probably won’t rebuild with a total loss better off, if the company will allow it, remaining at RC…

Coinsurance 101

You’d think after 100+ years of application that coinsurance questions would rarely arise. However, few commercial property provisions are debated more often than coinsurance. In this article, we’ll take a look at several coinsurance issues – a couple of them basic, but fundamentally important, and another one a little more complicated – and we’ll also…

Valuation Methods Don’t Measure Up (Part 2 of 2)

This is Part 2 of 2 from my Agent & Broker magazine column that generated the most “fan mail” of any columns I’ve written over the years. If you use “toy” valuation systems like room counts or square footage in determining building values (in either commercial or personal lines), you need to read this two-part…

Bag with money and tape measure with a wooden houses. The concept of a limited real estate budget. Low subsidies. Lack of investment in construction. Market crisis. Reduced demand for home buying.