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Common Property & Casualty Insurance Terms:

Actual Cash Value: The amount an insurance company will pay for an eligible loss under a policy that takes into account depreciated value of the item. Not a "replacement cost" policy.

All-Risk Policy: A property insurance policy that will cover for all perils except those specifically excluded in the insurance policy document. Generally considered a high level of coverage.

Depreciated Value: The value of an item after taking into consideration depreciation, ie. Age of item, wear and tear, damage sustained, general overall condition. See Actual Cash Value.

Dwelling Policy: An insurance policy offered by some insurance companies on vacant homes, or offered on older buildings often not being able to qualify for HO3 or HO5 insurance, which offers a lesser degree of coverage. A simplified insurance policy only covering a limited number of perils with the most common forms being a Dwelling 1 or a Dwelling 3 policy.

Empty: Term in homeowners insurance used to describe a house where at least one member of the immediate family is not living in the house, and most possessions have been removed from the house.

Exclusions: Perils not covered by an insurance policy, as listed in the policy document.

Flood Insurance: Insurance to cover for the peril of rising water or water damage caused by excessive rain or tidal flooding. Coverage for this peril is not normally included in a standard homeowner's insurance policy and needs to be added as a rider or put in separately by the insurer, or through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Hazard: Something that increases the chance of loss. An electric heater sitting on newspaper is a hazard that increases the chance of the peril, fire.

Insurance Agent: A professional in the business of insurance. An insurance agent (vs. a broker) typically represents the insurance company and not the buyer of insurance.

Landlord Policy or Landlord / Tenant Policy: See Tenant Policy

Liability Insurance: Insurance used to protect the net worth of the policyholder in the event of lawsuit or damage award granted to another in a court of law. Protection from one's negligence or the negligence of one's family member.

Peril: The cause of a loss. For example, lightning, earthquake, fire, etc. Not all perils are covered by insurance policies and some perils are excluded.

Policy Document: The legal paperwork presented by the insurance company to the insured, demonstrating what is, and what is not covered by the insurance. In addition to what is covered and what is excluded, the insurance policy will present the duties and obligations of the insurance company and the insured.

Regular Property: Also, called normal property, this includes all eligible property covered by an insurance policy that is not consider a valuable article. Example of regular property includes clothes, furniture, most electronics etc.

Renters Insurance: An insurance policy secured by someone renting a dwelling to cover the renter's possessions and personal liabilities. Renters insurance does not cover the structure and permanent fixtures.

Replacement Cost: Typically used to describe a type of insurance policy that would pay for the replacement cost of an item lost or damaged by a covered peril without taking into account depreciation or wear and tear.

Unoccupied: A term associated with a vacant home policy used to describe a home that still holds the furnishings and the regular property but the owner and family members are not living in the house. (unoccupied vs. vacant)

Vacant: A term associated with vacant home insurance used to describe a home where the owners have left the house and moved out most or all the regular property as well. The only items remaining are carpet and permanent fixtures, and perhaps a small amount of regular property.

Vacant Building Insurance: Another term used to describe vacant homeowner's insurance or in some cases used in a commercial sense to describe the insurance needed on vacant businesses.

Vacant Dwelling Insurance: Another term used to describe vacant homeowner's insurance. Vacant dwelling insurance and vacant homeowners insurance are used interchangeably. See Also: Vacant Dwelling Insurance Extended Definition.

Vacant Homeowners Policy: A specific and separate homeowners insurance policy meant to cover a residence dwelling where no person is occupying the home for a certain period of time.

Valuable Articles Coverage: Insurance protection on items that have either a high value, a unique appraised value, or both. An item labeled a valuable article by an insurance policy needs to be insured to its true value using an appraisal. A valuable article without a current appraisal to demonstrate value, will have the value capped at an amount below the true value in the event of a loss or claim.