Here are 6 of the Most Common Insurance Gaps property and real estate owners experience:

1. Not naming all the relevant property owners and legal entities in the insurance policy. Most often, property owners create separate limited liability corporations or other legal protections to protect their financial interests. It is very important that the names on the policy correspond to the name of the insureds and any legal entities. Failure to do so could result in coverage declination. For any changes, you need to notify your agent right away.
2. Not ensuring you have a sufficient ‘period of restoration’ coverage. The length of time needed to rebuild, repair or replace the damaged or destroyed property and resume operations must always be considered when buying an insurance policy. A lot of business owners’ policies limit the ‘period of restoration’ to 12 months – which may be sufficient for a small property loss. However, if you’re still losing income after the 12-month period and without proper endorsement, you will not have coverage above 12 months for an extended business income loss. it will no longer be covered.
3. Vacancy provision can pose problems for commercial insureds. The vacancy provision can affect the payment of your claim. It is crucial that you know how your property defines vacancy. Understanding the square footage limitations or misunderstanding vacancy provisions can result in a reduced payment claim.
4. Not using a correct and updated property value. One common situation that occurs after a claim is when a property owner has underinsured a building or failed to insure to the coinsurance requirements on the commercial policy. By correctly valuing your property and making sure that having a new property appraisal after improvements can help avoid such errors.
5. Not being aware of the property exclusions in your policy. The most popular commercial property forms may exclude may types of property and some of the coverage limitations can be expensive to repair or replace. But you can cover all the important items by adding CP14 10, ‘Covered Property’, Additional Covered Property endorsement.
6. Not having adequate coverage for increased cost of construction. Increased costs you incur due to laws or ordinances can be expensive. Make sure to talk to your broker to increase your coverage limit and easily address these circumstances.