A building that looks occupied to the average person may be considered vacant to an insurance carrier—and the vacancy can trigger a clause in standard policies that limits coverage for unwary building owners and lessees.

Giving some insurance basics for vacant buildings during a recent PC360.com webinar, Christopher Zoidis, vice president of the Special Risk Division of wholesaler/MGA Burns & Wilcox, notes that insurers specifically define vacant property in standard ISO (Insurance Service Office) forms with clauses referring to "less than 31 percent of the square footage" being occupied.

For tenants, a building that does not contain "enough business personal property to conduct customary operations" is also "vacant" according to the wording of vacancy clauses in standard policies, Zoidis adds.

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