This week, legislators are in special session in Tallahassee that was SUPPOSED to be focused on bailing out property insurance carriers and stabilizing the re-insurance market to drive down YOUR premiums and address abuses by the carriers.
Instead….the legislature is taking rights away from YOU.
If the language in HB1D (2022 special session) is allowed to become law, YOU as a property owner will be the one bearing the costs of an under-regulated insurance industry, because the carriers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions so the legislature only hears the carriers’ misleading statistics and summaries without supporting data to blame YOU for THEIR bad business and claims handling practices.
For years, the carriers have taken advantage of the lack of transparency and protective government oversight in the property insurance industry to reap millions in profits annually before misusing the insolvency system in Florida to get what amounts to a free bankruptcy proceeding that leaves ALL Floridians holding the bag.
CALL OR EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and tell them not to vote for the problems this bill creates for YOU if this bill becomes law:
Roof Claim Separate Deductibles
YOU will be subject to additional higher deductibles if your roof is damaged, up to 50% of the cost to replace your roof OR 2% of the Coverage A limit in your policy (essentially any damage to your roof will come with your hurricane deductible if it has to be replaced).
For a $20,000 shingle roof, you could have to pay up to a $10,000 deductible!! For a $50,000 tile roof, you may have to pay up to $25,000 for your deductible!!
Carriers would get 45 days to inspect your property after any damages NOT caused by hurricanes, and impliedly even longer if there IS a hurricane
The law NOW already says the carrier has 90 days to adjust and pay or deny your claim. This new bill would mean YOU will have to wait up to FORTY-FIVE DAYS after you make a claim for damages that were caused by anything OTHER than a hurricane before your carrier has to show up and inspect the damages to determine whether and how much you are entitled to from your policy. Implied is that the carrier can take EVEN LONGER to inspect damages after a hurricane!!
Why do they need MORE time? Many states only allow 30 days TOTAL for a carrier to adjust AND PAY property damage claims, why do carriers need 45 days just to INSPECT the property in Florida? And why are you paying so much for your property insurance premiums if the carriers are so understaffed that they NEED 45 days send an adjuster out to inspect your property when there hasn’t even been a hurricane?
Carriers would NOT have to pay the full value of what they AGREE you are owed under your policy until YOU prove you paid your full deductible, even if your contractor is willing to work with you on a payment plan for higher deductibles
YOU will have to come up with the full amount your carrier agrees is owed AND your deductible before the carrier has to pay you BACK, because the carrier would now be allowed to withhold depreciation (which is FREQUENTLY more than 50% of the amount you are entitled to recover under your policy) until you “prove” you have paid your deductible. To avoid liens on your house or the damages continuing to get worse without making the repairs your carrier agrees your policy provides coverage for, YOU will have to be able to pay for up to half of the damages BEFORE the carrier pays you back – which can be thousands of dollars on even lower-value claims.
If your contractor is willing to do a payment plan for your hurricane deductible – which most are – they still have to protect their ability to recover for the work they do, so you may have to deal with a lien until you can afford to pay your deductible in full BEFORE the carrier would have to pay you the full amount they agree they owe you and which you have been PAYING FOR in your policy premiums every year.
This is a gut punch to everyone who does not have thousands of dollars lying around they can afford to throw at an unexpected property loss in this state.
Eliminates your right to assign benefits to a contractor who by law currently gives up the right to collect directly from you or lien your property if your carrier does not pay timely or enough money, leaving YOU on the hook for higher out of pocket expenses or dealing with liens on your property to get covered damages repaired
YOU will lose the ability to sign Assignment of Benefits giving contractors the rights to pursue direct payment for their services for things like tarps, emergency water mitigation, or repairs to protect your property from being damaged any further. Currently, the law protects YOU if you sign an Assignment of Benefits, because in exchange for the right to pursue direct payment on their own, the contractor with the assignment gives up their right to lien your home OR collect from you directly.
Without AOB’s, your insurance policy STILL requires that you take reasonable measures to protect your property from further damage, BUT you will have to pay out of pocket up front for all of those expenses because the legislature is trying to take away the ability of a company with an assignment of benefits to actually enforce and collect on it. The right to use an assignment is YOUR right if you need it to get
If Assignment of Benefits are allowed to be rendered meaningless as the legislature is trying to do, in the event of a hurricane, tree falling on your home, pipe burst, or any other unexpected event causing immediate damage to your home that needs to be addressed, YOU will have to come up with the thousands of dollars that it costs to complete those immediately necessary repairs and LOSE the ability to use an assignment of benefits, which currently allows YOU to receive those services NOW, and the contractor to collect directly from your carrier later, without any extra work for YOU.
If you do not have thousands of dollars on hand, YOUR options under this proposed law that eliminates assignment of benefits from being used would be:
1. Have the repairs, tarping, or mitigation work done and have a lien placed on your house if your carrier does not pay for those expenses before they are completed. This can cause issues for YOU when you want to sell your home!
2. File a lawsuit yourself for the value of services you needed to have performed in order to clear a lien on your property, taking away your right to assign the benefits to a contractor willing to wait to get paid by your carrier (at no additional expense in time or money) to YOU.
3. Wait to make any repairs or remediation measures until your carrier decides to pay your claim (because you can’t afford to make them on your own, which is WHY YOU HAVE INSURANCE) at which point your carrier could deny your claim entirely because you did not fix the immediate problems and the damages kept getting worse.
Immunizes carriers from the consequences of engaging in Bad Faith claims handling if your carrier decides to use appraisal to determine how much they owe you, which costs YOU money you will now never be able to get paid back
YOU will have to bear the costs associated with a prolonged appraisal process and the legislature is removing your ability to get repaid for those costs from the carrier. Currently, you can provide written communication to your carrier to tell them they are unlawfully delaying or failing to use good faith to ensure a fair resolution of your claim, and IF the carrier decides to invoke appraisal to have independent adjusters decide the amount they owe, the law NOW allows you to recover the thousands of dollars it costs YOU to go through appraisal from your carrier, so long as you gave them notice of their failure to handle things properly before the appraisal process begins.
The proposed legislation takes away your ability to get that money back and leaves you without any recourse, because the proposed language immunizes your insurance carrier from having to pay for their bad faith handling of your claim if they use the appraisal process, which can cost YOU thousands of dollars if your carrier invokes it rather than pay your claim properly to begin with.
THESE PROPOSED CHANGES HURT CONSUMERS, AND YOUR VOICE MATTERS, ESPECIALLY IN AN ELECTION YEAR!
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! CALL AND DEMAND THE LEGISLATURE IN FLORIDA STOP TAKING RIGHTS AWAY FROM YOU AND FOCUS ON REGULATING THE CARRIERS TO PROTECT YOU, NOT MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT TO COLLECT PROCEEDS YOU ARE OWED IN YOUR TIME OF NEED!
