Commercial property and burglary policies are highly specialized contracts containing specific 'warranties'—conditions that the policyholder must fulfill to keep the cover active. A common warranty in modern warehouse policies is the continuous operation of surveillance cameras and the maintenance of video backups. Failing to maintain these systems can result in a claim dispute during a break-in.

The Burglary and the Missing Backup

A commercial warehouse storing consumer electronics in Gujarat was broken into over a holiday weekend. High-value smartphones and laptops worth ₹35 Lakhs were stolen. The thieves had also damaged the local DVR unit of the security cameras. When the owner filed a burglary claim, the surveyor requested the CCTV footage backup, which was supposed to be stored on an offsite cloud server as per the policy warranty. The warehouse owner admitted that cloud synchronization had failed three months prior and was never fixed.

The Policy Warranty Dispute

The insurance company disputed the claim on the grounds of a 'Breach of Warranty.' Under standard commercial policy terms, a warranty is a condition that must be strictly complied with, regardless of whether its breach directly caused the loss. Since the policyholder signed the warranty promising 30-day cloud backups of all security footage and failed to maintain it, the insurer argued they had no liability for the burglary loss. The case went into a prolonged legal dispute at the consumer forum.

• Review all warranties and special conditions printed in your commercial insurance schedule.
• Ensure CCTV systems are connected to remote cloud storage or secure offsite servers that cannot be accessed by intruders.
• Conduct weekly audits of all security hardware, alarm systems, and backup logs, documenting them in a register.
• Choose burglary policies with minimal security warranties if your facility cannot maintain complex surveillance infrastructure.