Collapse Coverage under an HO-3

Our insured has an HO-3. Our question concerns coverage for wet rot damage that has led to a sagging roof. The support beams have sustained water damage over a period of time, which has in turn resulted in the sagging roof. Do we owe for both the roof and the support beams?

Florida Subscriber

For collapse to be covered on an HO-3, the cause of the collapse must be one of those named under additional coverage 8. collapse. One of the causes is “hidden decay,” which is the wet rot. However, “wet rot” damage is itself excluded, but an ensuing loss to covered property described in coverages A and B not excepted or excluded is covered. The ensuing loss—the roof's collapse—is therefore covered.

However, your jurisdiction is one that holds “collapse” to include structural impairment. The sagging roof would not be covered in a jurisdiction that held “collapse” to mean “reduced to a heap of rubble.”