Non-Scheduled Personal Property

Non-scheduled personal property refers to the items automatically covered by homeowners insurance without the need for an appraisal or receipt, usually including common items that most people own.

Non-scheduled personal property tends to cover items not valued highly enough to warrant separate insurance. For example, under home insurance or renters’ insurance, clothes, jewelry, common sports equipment, kitchen appliances, cameras and other small electronics typically qualify as non-scheduled personal property.

In general, non-scheduled personal property coverage is limited to specific types of losses spelled out in a policy, such as theft or fire. It often has one overarching amount of coverage that applies to any and all items within the scope of the policy.

In the event of a fire or other catastrophic loss covered by the policy, the policyholder simply adds up all of these non-scheduled items, estimates their total value, and submits them for compensation. Part of the reason is that otherwise, it’s a burden for both the insured and the insurance company to respectively list and cover many low-dollar items separately.

Note that policies place sub-limits on specific categories of items covered under non-scheduled personal property. Say a policy covers $5,000 of non-scheduled property in total, but sets per-incident limits of $750 for clothing, 1,000 for electronics, and $200 for any lost cash.

As is the case with all insurance, some policies have deductibles, while others do not. Also, some offer reimbursement at replacement value for lost or damaged items, while some only cover the cash value of the items.

Most non-scheduled personal property does not typically require an additional premium. That said, some insurance providers offer non-scheduled property floater policies that cover any insurance gaps for items each valued at $1,000 or less. The term floater refers to an addition to a current policy to cover certain valuables. These add-on policies provide coverage for property that would not be covered adequately otherwise. These rider policies sometimes come with additional benefits, for example, such as theft coverage, even if the item was not in the home when it was stolen. Adding a floater usually requires a higher insurance premium.

Non-scheduled property floaters differ from scheduled property, which typically requires listing out specific items. In some cases, non-scheduled insurance also requires an appraisal.

Note that it is possible to have both scheduled and non-scheduled property under the same policy. In fact, certain types of policies require insurance for one or more scheduled items in order for the policyholder to have non-scheduled coverage.

Also, it’s possible to include both scheduled- and non-scheduled floater policies in some main policies.