Household Insurance Glossary Of Terms
Acceptance - Acceptance is the formal agreement to a contract. It can also refer to the document which records the acceptance.
Accident - An unintentional, unforeseen and unexpected detrimental event.
Accidental damage cover - This is an optional extension to the home insurance policy to cover your property for damage caused by unexpected and unintended incidents. For example, if you accidentally put a foot through the ceiling whilst in the loft, this would be covered under the buildings accidental damage extension. If you accidentally spilt paint on your carpet, this would be covered under the contents accidental damage extension.
Act of God - Event occurring without human involvement and which could not reasonably have been foreseen or avoided, defined in Nugent v Smith in 1876 as "Natural causes directly and exclusively without human intervention and that could not have been prevented by any amount of foresight and pains and care reasonably to have been expected.
Actual Cash Value (ACV) - The value of your property at the time of a loss or damage. ACV may be determined as the replacement cost minus depreciation.
Additional Premium - A further premium payable by the insured as a result of a policy alteration, that may have increases the risk or amended the policy conditions or sum insured.
Adjusted basis - The cost of a property plus the value of any improvements and minus depreciation.
Agent - A licensed person who sells insurance policies.
Appreciation - An increase in the value of a property or asset caused by economic factors such as inflation or other causes. The opposite of Depreciation.
Assessed Value - The value placed on property for purposes of taxation.
Average - A policy condition that requires the amount of a claim payment to be reduced proportionately if the policyholder has not insured his property for the full value or replacement cost.
Benefit - The amount paid by the insurance company when a claim is made, especially used in connection with life insurance.
Betterment - An improvement that increases the value of a property or facility.
Blanket Policy - A policy in which a single sum insured covers a number of separate items without the amount being divided among them (e.g. buildings in a fire policy).
British Isles - Great Britain, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Buildings - Your home with its permanent fixtures and fittings including swimming pools, tennis courts, patios, terraces, service tanks, drains, septic tanks, pipes and cables, central heating fuel storage tanks, drives, footpaths, garden walls, hedges, gates, fences, landlords fixtures and fittings and any other domestic outbuildings within the boundaries of your home. Imagine everything that came with your house when you moved in without the furniture
Building Insurance - A policy covering the structure of a house or other building against a number of different risks.
Business equipment - Computers, keyboards, visual display units and printers, word processing equipment, desk top publishing units, small business's computers, fax machines, photocopiers, typewriters, computer aided design equipment and telephone equipment used for business purposes at your home.
Cancellation - Termination of a policy before it is due to expire. There may be a cancellation clause in the policy. In most cases cancellation will lead to part or all of the premium being returned to the policy holder.
Cash Value - The amount of money which the policy owner will receive as a refund if the coverage is cancelled and the policy is returned to the company. Also known as cash surrender value.
Cash / money - This usually includes current legal tender, cheques, postal and money orders, unused postage stamps not forming part of a collection, savings stamps and certificates, traveller's cheques, premium bonds, luncheon vouchers, gift tokens and travel tickets all held solely for private and domestic purposes.
Chattel - Articles of personal property
Claimant - A person who makes an insurance claim.
Claim - A home insurance claim is an application to an insurance company to compensate you for a loss. A loss is where an event has occurred that has resulted in damage to or loss of use of something. You may not be insured for all losses or you may have chosen not to make an insurance claim for a loss, even though it was insured.
Common Areas - Those portions of a building, land, and amenities owned (or managed) by a planned unit development (PUD) or condominium projects homeowners' association (or a cooperative projects cooperative corporation) that are used by all of the unit owners, who share in the common expenses of their operation and maintenance. Common areas include swimming pools, tennis courts, and other recreational facilities, as well as common corridors of buildings, parking areas, means of ingress and egress, etc.
Contents Policy - A policy covering the contents of a home or other building against a number of different risks.
Company/Us/We/Our - Sureterm Direct Limited
Credit Cards - Credit cards, cheque cards, bankers cards and cash cards issued to you or any members of your family who live with you
Declarations Page - The page in your policy that shows the name and address of the insurer, the period of time a policy is in force, a description of the insured property, the amount of the premium, and the amount of coverage.
Deposit - A payment given as a guarantee that an obligation will be met.
Depreciation - A decrease in the value of property. The opposite of Appreciation.
Dividend - An amount of money from earnings that an insurance company may decide to distribute to policyholders.
Effective Age - An appraiser's estimate of the physical condition of a building. The actual age of a building may be shorter or longer than its effective age.
Effective Date - The date on which an insurance policy becomes effective.
Endorsement - An agreed change in the terms of the policy.
Excess - The amount you must pay towards any claim.
Exclusions - Specific situations, conditions, or circumstances listed in your policy that are not covered by your home insurance policy.
Grace Period(s) - The time during which a policy remains in force after the premium is due but not paid.
Home - The private home at the address shown in the schedule together with its garages and domestic outbuildings.
Home Emergency Service - an insurance policy to cover immediate repairs in the event of an emergency.
Joint Proposer - An additional policyholder and joint owner of the home to be insured.
Lapse - when a policy has run it's course and become due for renewal. The policy has not been renewed and will therefore lapse.
Legal Protection - an insurance policy which covers you for the legal costs involved in defending or taking action against an infringement of your legal rights.
Limit of Liability - The maximum amount of damages an insurer is bound to pay in case of a loss.
Listed building - A building that is 'of special architectural or historic interest' and has been included on a list kept by the Secretary of State for the Environment.
Loss History - Refers to an insured�s history of losses (claims) with other companies, or the company they are currently with. A company will consider "loss history" when underwriting a new policy or considering a renewal of an existing policy.
Money - Cash, bank notes, cheques, money orders, postal orders, postage stamps (that are not part of a collection), savings stamps and savings certificates, share certificates, premium bonds, luncheon vouchers, travelers cheques, travel tickets, phone cards and gift tokens belonging to you or any member of your family and used or held for private purposes.
Net Cash Value - The cash value amount available to a policy owner after adjustments have been made to the cash surrender value to account for policy loans and dividends.
New for old - Settlement of home insurance claims will be at today's values, without making a deduction for wear and tear or age of your property. Some exclusions may apply.
Paid-Up - This event occurs when a policy will not require any further premiums to keep the coverage in force.
Part-time occupation - For example, working part-time in a public house or working part-time as a sales representative in the evenings.
Period of Insurance - The period shown in the schedule which the policy covers you for (as long as you pay the premium on time).
Personal possessions - Clothing, baggage, cash/money, credit cards, sports equipment, prams, pedal cycles and other personal belongings that you wear or take with you in everyday life.
Property Damage (PD) - destruction or loss of use of tangible property.
Period of insurance - The length of time for which your home insurance policy is in force. This is usually for one year from the date you requested the home insurance policy to start.
Premises - The address named in the home insurance policy schedule.
Proposer - The main policyholder and owner of the property to be insured.
Replacement Cost - The cost associated with replacing property at current market prices.
Rented / leased / let / sub-let
. Rented - The property or part of a property is rented for a stated time in exchange for a regular payment.
. Leased - Under a contract by which land or property is rented for a stated time by the owner to a tenant.
. Let - When your home or land is being lived in or used by someone else in exchange for a regular payment.
. Sub-let - To lease or rent all or part of a property (which is already leased or rented to you) to another person.
Sanitary ware - Washbasins, sinks, bidets, lavatory pans and cisterns, shower trays, shower screens, baths and bath panels.
Schedule - The policy schedule is part of your Home Insurance document and contains details of you, the premises, the sums insured, the period of insurance and the sections that apply.
Sports Equipment - Articles used for sports activities including sports clothing specifically designed to be used for any sports activity.and belonging to you or any member of your family. But not:
. any vehicle, watercraft (including windsurfers and surfboards), aircraft (including hang-gliders, powered or .otherwise), or their accessories; or
. items held or used for any profession, business or employment.
Standard construction - Built of brick, stone or concrete and roofed with slates, tiles, asphalt, metal or concrete. Some timber-framed properties are also considered standard.
Subsidence / heave / landslip
. Subsidence - A gradual sinking to a lower level or the sudden collapse of something into a hollow beneath it.
. Heave - An upward motion or horizontal displacement caused by faulting of rock masses.
. Landslip - A downward slip or movement of a mass of rock, earth or artificial fill.
Sum insured - The amount for which each section is insured. This will be shown in your insurance policy schedule when you take out a home insurance policy.
Uninsurable Risks (risks we do not insure)
. wear and tear and reduction in value;
. damage caused by rot, fungus, woodworm, beetles, moths, insects or vermin;
. mechanical or electrical faults or breakdowns;
. damage caused by cleaning, dyeing, renovating, altering, re-styling, repairing or restoring an item or items; or
. any other damage caused gradually.
United Kingdom - England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and journeys between these countries.
Your Family - Your husband, wife, civil partner, children, parents and other relatives normally living with you
Valuables - Items which belong to you or for which you are legally responsible, usually including jewellery, precious stones, articles made from gold, silver and other precious metals, watches and furs, photographic equipment, video cameras, binoculars, telescopes, guns and musical instruments, clocks, collectors' items, pictures and other works of art, rare and unusual figurines and ornaments, collections of stamps, coins or medals.