What is an HO-5 insurance policy?

An HO-5 policy is the most comprehensive form of homeowners insurance on the market, offering broad protection for both your home’s structure and personal belongings.

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Pat HowardManaging Editor & Licensed Home Insurance ExpertPat Howard is a licensed insurance expert and managing editor at Policygenius. Pat has written extensively about the home insurance industry and his insights as a subject matter expert have appeared in several top tier publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Reuters. Pat has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.&Kara McGinleySenior Editor & Licensed Home Insurance ExpertKara McGinley is a former senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she specialized in homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Forbes Advisor, Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.

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Ian Bloom, CFP®, RLP®Ian Bloom, CFP®, RLP®Certified Financial PlannerIan Bloom, CFP®, RLP®, is a certified financial planner and a member of the Financial Review Council at Policygenius. Previously, he was a financial advisor at MetLife and MassMutual.

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An HO-5 policy, also known as a comprehensive form policy, is a superior type of homeowners insurance, offering more protection for both your home and personal property than any residential policy on the market.

What sets an HO-5 policy apart from standard homeowners insurance is the level of protection for personal belongings like furniture, clothes, and appliances. In an HO-5 policy, your personal property is covered on an “all-risks” basis. Also known as open perils, this means you’re covered against everything except the perils exempt from the policy, such as earthquakes, flooding, and intentional acts. When you file an HO-5 claim involving your belongings, you don’t need to prove if the loss is covered or not — the burden of proof is on your insurance company.

Key takeaways

  • An HO-5 policy is a type of homeowners insurance that features more robust personal property coverage than a standard policy.

  • With an HO-5, your belongings are covered against everything except the perils specifically mentioned in the policy.

  • Your belongings are also covered at their replacement cost, meaning you’ll be reimbursed the value of new items after a loss.

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What is HO-5 insurance?

An HO-5 policy is the most comprehensive form of homeowners insurance on the residential market, providing open perils coverage and replacement cost value claim settlements for your home and personal property. 

The biggest difference between the HO-5 and the other policy forms is the scope and quality of personal property coverage. 

Here’s a look at the different coverages in an HO-5 policy:

Coverage

What does this coverage do?

Loss valuation

Section I - Property Coverages

Coverage A - Dwelling

Covers the structure of your home and built-in appliances

Replacement cost

Coverage B - Other Structures

Covers detached structures on your property

Replacement cost

Coverage C - Personal Property

Covers your personal belongings both inside and outside the home

Replacement cost

Coverage D - Loss-of-use

Pays for additional living expenses while your home is being repaired

Additional Coverages

Explains all the additional coverages in a standard policy—like debris removal, loss assessment and ordinance or law—and the insured limits of each

Section II - Liability Coverages

Coverage E - Personal Liability

Pays for legal and medical bills if you're held liable for injury or personal property damage to someone else

Coverage F - Medical Payment To Others

If a guest is injured in your home, it pays for their medical bills, regardless of who is at fault

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HO-3 vs. HO-5: What’s the difference?

An HO-3 policy is the most common form of homeowners insurance. Here is how an HO-5 policy differs from it.

Policy type

Dwelling coverage

Personal property coverage

Dwelling claim reimbursements

Personal property claim reimbursements

HO-3

Open perils

Named perils

Replacement cost

Actual cash value

HO-5

Open perils

Open perils

Replacement cost

Replacement cost

At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with an HO-3 or HO-5 — both are light-years ahead of the basic form policies (dwelling fire, HO-1, and HO-2) in terms of coverage quality and availability. But if it’s between the two and you happen to own a lot of stuff, an HO-5 policy is your best bet for providing maximum protection for your personal belongings.

What does an HO-5 policy cover?

An HO-5 covers the structure of your home, any other structures on the property, and your personal belongings against everything except the specific perils listed in the policy. 

Here are some common perils covered by an HO-5 policy:

  • Fire or lightning

  • Windstorm or hail

  • Explosion

  • Riot or civil commotion

  • Aircraft

  • Vehicles

  • Smoke

  • Vandalism

  • Theft

  • Falling objects

  • Weight of ice, snow, or sleet

  • Accidental discharge or overflow of water or stream

  • Sudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of a built-in appliance like a water heater or centralized air conditioner or heating system

  • Freezing

  • Sudden and accidental damage from an artificially generated electrical current

  • Volcanic Eruption

What does an HO-5 policy not cover?

Although an HO-5 policy offers more protection than standard homeowners insurance, there are still a number of exclusions to be aware of. Here’s a look at what your HO-5 policy will not cover:

  • Ordinance or law

  • Earth movement

  • Water damage from flooding, sewer backups, or water that seeps up from the ground

  • Power failure

  • Neglect

  • War

  • Nuclear hazard

  • Intentional loss

  • Government action

  • Theft to a dwelling under construction

  • Vandalism or malicious mischief (if vacant more than 60 days)

  • Mold, fungus, or wet rot (except if it resulted from an accidental discharge or overflow of water)

  • Wear and tear

  • Mechanical breakdown

  • Smog, rust or other corrosion

  • Smoke from agricultural smudging and industrial operations

  • Discharge, dispersal, seepage of pollutants

  • Settling, shrinking, bulging, or expanding of parts of the structure like your foundation or walls

  • Birds, vermin, rodents, insects

  • Damage caused by animals owned by insured

How much does an HO-5 homeowners insurance policy cost?

The average annual premium for an HO-5 policy in the U.S. in 2019 was $1,186 per year or $99 a month, according to the NAIC. [1] And estates with an insurable value of $500,000 or more paid an average of $2,824 per year or $235 per month for an HO-5 policy. [2]

Insurance companies generally avoid writing HO-5 policies in high-risk areas.

One thing to keep in mind is that HO-5 insurance is usually intended for newer homes in areas at low risk of weather damage or other types of loss. This is because the broader personal property protection offered by these policies often means higher claim payouts. That, coupled with claim frequency, limits the availability of HO-5 policies in regions with considerable risk exposure. 

References

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Policygenius uses external sources, including government data, industry studies, and reputable news organizations to supplement proprietary marketplace data and internal expertise. Learn more about how we use and vet external sources as part of oureditorial standards.

  1. National Association of Insurance Commissioners

    . "

    Dwelling, Fire, Homeowners Owner-Occupied, and Homeowners Tenant and Condominium/Cooperative Unit Owner’s Insurance Report: Data for 2019

    ." Accessed April 04, 2022.

Authors

Pat Howard is a licensed insurance expert and managing editor at Policygenius. Pat has written extensively about the home insurance industry and his insights as a subject matter expert have appeared in several top tier publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Reuters. Pat has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

Kara McGinley is a former senior editor and licensed home insurance expert at Policygenius, where she specialized in homeowners and renters insurance. As a journalist and as an insurance expert, her work and insights have been featured in Forbes Advisor, Kiplinger, Lifehacker, MSN, WRAL.com, and elsewhere.

Expert reviewer

Ian Bloom, CFP®, RLP®, is a certified financial planner and a member of the Financial Review Council at Policygenius. Previously, he was a financial advisor at MetLife and MassMutual.

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