Principles of Risk Management and Insurance, 13th Edition

Homeowners Insurance

Homeowners insurance contracts were first introduced in the 1950s. Since then, they have been revised several times. In this chapter, we discuss the homeowners forms drafted by the Insurance ­Services Office (ISO). In 2010, ISO released a new edition of the homeowners policy for use beginning in 2011. A copy of the ISO Homeowners 3 form, which will be examined in greater detail in this chapter, is provided in Appendix B at the end of this text.¹

The ISO forms are widely used throughout the United States. Some insurers, however, use the homeowners forms designed by the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), which is an advisory organization similar to ISO. Other insurers use their own forms, which differ slightly ...