Insurer Of Last Resort In Florida Will Require Flood Insurance Beginning In 2024

[hatrack]

EDIT

A bill passed by the Senate Tuesday will slowly raise the rates of more than 1.1 million policy holders of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run property insurance carrier of last resort. But a provision in HB 1A requires that most Citizens policy holders must purchase and maintain flood insurance coverage over the coming years that is at least equivalent to the coverage provided by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Only 18% of all Florida homeowners carry a flood insurance program, either through the NFIP or a private flood insurer, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The legislation says that Citizens “may deny coverage” to a policyholder or applicant who refuses to purchase and maintain such coverage. The measure does allow existing Citizen customers whose policy doesn’t provide wind coverage to not be required to purchase flood coverage. But that’s fewer than 30,000 customers, according to Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier.

The speed of which a Citizens customer must get that new flood insurance package depends on the value of their home. For customers whose property is valued higher than $600,000, they must get flood insurance by Jan. 1, 2024. For those whose home values are above $500,000 can wait until 2025; those over $400,000 have until 2026, and every other Citizens customer must get flood insurance by January 1, 2027.

The bill would force Citizens’ policyholders to switch to a private insurance carrier if that carrier’s premiums are no more than 20% higher than Citizens’ when renewing.

EDIT

https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/12/14/on-top-of-rising-homeowner-premiums-policyholders-face-a-new-tab-coming-soon-flood-insurance/

[TexasTowelie]

1. The MAGAts aren't going to like the flood insurance requirement.

It will be considered as another costly government requirement. It will be key to point at DeSantis when the bill becomes law.

[jimfields33]

2. Most won't be required until 2027. Under 400K home value is a lot of Floridians.

They need to do something about insurance big time. Roofs are the major problem. Insurance companies start hounding residents at 10-15 years and will drop if you don’t get a new roof. Doesn’t matter if it’s a 20 to 30 year roof. Other problem is residents getting a new roof due to untruthful roofers. Hopefully they will fix both of these outrageous situations.