Broad and Special Dwelling Perils and Collapse

Broad and Special Dwelling Perils and Collapse

DP-2 adds named perils while DP-3 uses open-peril building protection and named-peril contents. Collapse is a specified additional coverage rather than insurance for every crack or settling condition.

DP-2 Broad Form Added Perils

The DP-2 Broad Form (DP 00 02) is a named-peril policy that automatically incorporates Fire, Lightning, Extended Coverage, and V&MM, plus seven additional broad named perils:

1. Falling Objects: Covers physical impact from falling trees, limbs, or meteorites. Damage to the interior of the building or contents inside is covered only if the falling object first breaches the exterior roof or walls.
2. Weight of Ice, Snow, or Sleet: Covers structural collapse or physical damage caused by the sheer downward weight of frozen precipitation. It specifically excludes damage to outdoor awnings, fences, pavements, patios, swimming pools, foundations, and retaining walls.
3. Accidental Discharge or Overflow of Water or Steam: Covers sudden and accidental escape of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, air conditioning, or automatic fire protective sprinkler system, or household appliance. It covers the cost of tearing out and replacing walls or floors necessary to repair the broken system, but does not cover the appliance or fixture itself that failed. Continuous, repeated seepage over weeks or months is excluded.
4. Sudden and Accidental Tearing Apart, Cracking, Burning, or Bulging: Covers steam, hot water heating, air conditioning, or automatic fire sprinkler systems, or water heaters.
5. Freezing of Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, or Sprinkler Systems: Covers frozen pipes and resulting water damage, provided the insured exercised reasonable care to maintain heat in the building or shut off the water supply and drained all systems dry.
6. Sudden and Accidental Damage from Artificially Generated Electrical Current: Covers sudden burnouts caused by power surges. It excludes tubes, transistors, electronic components, or computer circuitry.
7. Damage by Burglars: Covers the specified damage caused by burglars, rather than the stolen property itself. The 2014 specimen excludes this damage after more than 60 days of vacancy, with the construction exception. DP-2 smoke wording also differs from basic DP-1, including its specified sudden accidental smoke/puffback protection and agricultural/industrial exclusions.

DP-3 Special Form: Open Peril Architecture

The DP-3 Special Form (DP 00 03) provides the most comprehensive protection available in the dwelling program by combining two distinct coverage frameworks in a single policy:

• Coverage A (Dwelling) and Coverage B (Other Structures): Insured on an Open Peril (Special / All-Risk) basis. All direct physical losses are covered unless the cause of loss is specifically and unambiguously excluded. In a claims dispute, the insured must establish a loss within the initial grant, including insured property and relevant timing; the insurer bears the burden for an asserted exclusion. Other elements and conditions remain separately relevant.
• Coverage C (Personal Property): Insured strictly on a Named Peril basis, covering the exact same 16 broad perils enumerated in the DP-2 form.

Key Exclusions to DP-3 Open Peril Building Coverage

Even under the open-peril grant of Coverage A and B, the DP-3 contains specific structural exclusions:

• Wear and tear, gradual deterioration, marring, and scratching.
• Rust, corrosion, dry rot, wet rot, and mold (subject to any limited fungi coverage or applicable ensuing-loss provision).
• Smog, smoke from agricultural or industrial operations.
• Settling, shrinking, cracking, or expansion of foundations, walls, floors, roofs, or chimneys.
• Mechanical breakdown or latent defects.
• Infestation, nesting, discharge, or release of waste products by birds, vermin, rodents, or insects.
• Continuous or repeated seepage or leakage over the period specified in the actual form; editions and endorsements differ.
• Freezing of plumbing or heating systems while the dwelling is vacant or unoccupied, unless heat was maintained or water drained.
• Theft of property that is not an integral part of a building or structure (e.g., outdoor building supplies or lumber stored on the premises are excluded without endorsement).

Practical Adjuster Scenarios & Common Exam Traps

Collapse as additional coverage

DP-3 includes limited additional collapse coverage. It is not a promise to cover every crack or gradual settlement. Read the definition of abrupt collapse, the requirement that the building or part cannot be occupied for its intended purpose, and the listed causes. Typical qualifying causes include covered named perils, hidden decay or insect damage subject to the knowledge conditions, weight of contents or people, weight of rain on a roof and defective construction methods/materials during construction subject to the form. A building standing with sagging or cracking alone does not automatically meet collapse. Identify the collapsed part, timing, cause and any exception before deciding whether the additional coverage responds.