What is an HO-8 Insurance Policy?

What is HO-8 insurance coverage?

If your home is older or made from hard-to-find materials, you may want to consider an HO-8 homeowners policy. This coverage is most often used if your home was built 40 years ago or longer, is a historic landmark, or is otherwise architecturally important. As a general rule, if it costs more to repair your damaged home than the home’s current market value, an HO-8 policy will likely be your best — and most affordable — option.

If the home was originally constructed using materials no longer commonly used — like plaster walls — replacing and repairing these elements to the home's original standard would be prohibitively expensive. An HO-8 insurance policy is designed to cover these specific circumstances. 

 

What does an HO-8 policy cover?

Standard homeowners policies include HO-2, HO-3, and HO-5 policies. The HO-8 form is a modified version that provides coverage for homeowners unable to attain an HO-3 policy for their older home — typically more than 40 years old.

Under an HO-8 policy, the insured's dwelling, personal property, liability, and loss of use are covered. However, it should be noted this insurance policy will not go as far in covering your home and personal belongings as an HO-3 or HO-5 policy. An HO-8 will at least provide certain key coverages against the most common perils (causes of loss).

 

Insurance Terminology	Property Covered Against	Contents Covered Against
HO 8 - Modified Form	Named perils	Named perils

 

Named Peril: HO-8 is known as a named-peril policy in that it only covers what is explicitly listed. HO-8 coverage is much like the HO-1 policy in this regard. It provides coverage against basic perils:

1. Wind
2. Civil commotion and riot
3. Smoke
4. Hail
5. Aircraft
6. Vehicles
7. Volcanic eruption
8. Explosion
9. Vandalism or malicious mischief
10. Theft

Actual cash value: This term takes depreciation into account, meaning that any payout for damages will not be enough to cover full replacement costs. This is how your insurance company is able to keep insurance on such a home affordable.

Replacement cost: This term covers losses at the full value of their worth. Because of the nature of most older homes, this isn’t a viable coverage option and is not included in HO-8 policies.

Common construction: Basically, your insurance will cover your losses with modern — or common — building materials and practices. For instance, they may replace up to the same square footage damaged in your home, but possibly not with original, more expensive materials.

 

Specific coverages

Dwelling and other structures

An HO-8 policy covers your home as well as other structures (detached garage and fencing) up to the actual cash value.

Liability coverage

This coverage is similar to auto liability insurance. Homeowners liability insurance can protect you in the event that you are at fault for someone's bodily injury or damages to their property.

Personal property

This includes your personal possessions such as furniture, electronics, and clothing. It's important to note that there are sub-limits for valuable belongings like as musical equipment or jewelry. Because of the item's high value, an insurance provider will likely limit the amount of coverage available. Below are common sub-limits.

Sub-limit	Property	Limitations
$200	Money, gold, coins
$1,500	Jewelry, watches, furs	Theft-only
$1,500	Watercraft, trailers	Theft-only
$2,500	Firearms
$2,500	Silverware
$2,500	Business property	On-premises
$500	Business property	Off-premises
Varies	Electronics

For personal belongings exceeding state monetary sub-limits, consider adding an endorsement to your policy. An endorsement increases coverage levels for that category. For instance, adding a jewelry endorsement would raise the coverage level for all the jewelry you own. If, on the other hand, you have an individual piece of jewelry that is very valuable, such as a wedding or engagement ring, you might want to consider a scheduled endorsement.

Scheduled endorsements are specific to one item only. An appraisal is needed beforehand to ensure you have appropriate coverage. 

 

Additional living expenses

This coverage is also known as loss of use. It covers additional living expenses should you be required to live elsewhere in the event that your home is made unliveable due to a covered loss.

 

What does an HO-8 policy not cover?

As HO-8 policies only provide basic coverage, there are many potentially damaging perils that are not covered.

These may include:

• Earthquake: Standard policies never cover earthquakes. As such, you would want to seek out coverage that is specific to this peril.
• Flood/water damage: Standard homeowners policies never protect against flooding, but an HO-8 policy also excludes leaking or burst pipes.
• Falling objects: The most common peril in this category would be trees. If a tree—or one of its limbs—falls onto your house because of age or disease, your insurance company isn’t likely to cover it. However, if you can prove that the falling object was a result of one of the covered perils (like a windstorm), your insurance company may cover it.

 

Additional HO-8 exclusions:

The following are other common exclusions to HO-8 policies.

• Hurricane
• Mold
• Vandalism to vacant dwellings
• Government actions
• Intentional damage
• Building code enforcement
• General wear and tear

Note: some of the above perils can be insured by certain additional policies.

 

HO-8 homeowners insurance coverage: what to consider

If your home is historic or would otherwise be exceedingly costly to replace, the modified HO-8 insurance policy could be a great option for you. Unique features—such as craftsman-created carvings, plaster moldings, or antique doors—can give your home tremendous amounts of character, but they are hard to insure. Most insurance companies simply won’t pay to replace these features to the previous standard, as these repairs would be far too costly.

It pays to look around when shopping for insurance, especially if your home is older. If you are a homeowner searching for an HO-8 policy quote, call (888) 444-2833.