Cameras no Longer Business Property

February 7, 2012

Our insured has a $20,000 camera floater for professional use. He is now on disability retirement because he is physically unable to do photography any more. If he cancels his floater and simply insures the camera equipment as part of his unscheduled personal property under the homeowners policy, will the equipment still be considered business personal property and subject to the policy limit on such property or will it only be subject to the Coverage C limit on the policy?

Rhode Island Subscriber

It's going to depend on policy language. The 1991 ISO HO 00 03 considered property used at any time or in any manner as business equipment, so the fact that he had once used the equipment for business use would limit coverage to the $2500 business property special limit. The newer 2000 or 2011 ISO HO 00 03 only considers property as business property if it is used primarily for business purposes. There are no special limits for cameras on any of the ISO HO 00 03 homeowners policies. However, personal property coverage is named perils which is limiting. The insured has a significant amount of equipment; before he drops the scheduled coverage it would be wise to be sure he understands the coverage limitations.