Guide
Florida roof insurance claim: the deadlines and the roof deductible
Updated
Florida's property insurance rules have changed repeatedly, and roofs sit at the center of them. These are the current statutory positions, with the section numbers, so you can check them yourself. None of it is advice on your policy: your policy is the document that decides.
The deadlines are short, and they are statutory
A property insurance claim or reopened claim is barred unless notice was given to the insurer within 1 year after the date of loss. A supplemental claim is barred unless notice was given within 18 months after the date of loss (F.S. 627.70132(2)).
For weather losses, the date of loss is fixed for you: it is the date the hurricane made landfall, or the date the tornado, windstorm, severe rain or other weather event is verified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (F.S. 627.70132(3)). So the clock does not start when you notice the ceiling stain.
The separate roof deductible
Florida allows a personal lines residential policy to carry a separate roof deductible, but hedges it (F.S. 627.701(10)):
- It may not exceed the lesser of 2 percent of the Coverage A limit or 50 percent of the cost to replace the roof.
- Your premium must include an actuarially sound credit or discount for it.
- It applies only to a claim adjusted on a replacement cost basis.
- It does not apply to a total loss under the valued policy law, to a roof loss from a hurricane, to a roof loss from a tree fall or other hazard that punctures the roof deck, or to a roof loss requiring repair of less than 50 percent of the roof.
- If the roof deductible is applied, no other deductible may be applied to that loss from the same covered peril.
Where a roof deductible applies, the insurer may limit the roof payment to actual cash value until it receives reasonable proof that you paid the deductible, which the statute says includes a cancelled check, money order receipt, credit card statement, or an executed installment or financing contract requiring full payment over time (F.S. 627.7011(3)(a)).
Roof age and whether you can get covered at all
- Under 15 years
- An insurer may not refuse to issue or refuse to renew a homeowners' policy on a residential structure with a roof less than 15 years old solely because of the age of the roof (F.S. 627.7011(5)(b)).
- 15 years or older
- The insurer must allow you to have a roof inspection by an authorized inspector at your expense before requiring replacement as a condition of issuing or renewing. If that inspection shows the roof has 5 years or more of useful life remaining, the insurer may not refuse solely because of roof age (F.S. 627.7011(5)(c)).
- How roof age is counted
- From the last date on which 100 percent of the roof's surface area was built or replaced to the code in effect at the time, or from the initial date of a partial replacement where later partial replacements completed the whole surface (F.S. 627.7011(5)(d)).
Matching, when the new tiles do not look like the old
Where a policy settles first-party losses on repair or replacement cost, and replaced items do not match in quality, color or size, the insurer "shall make reasonable repairs or replacement of items in adjoining areas". In deciding how far that extends, the insurer may consider the cost of repairing or replacing undamaged portions, the degree of uniformity achievable without that cost, the remaining useful life of the undamaged portion and other relevant factors (F.S. 626.9744(2)). It is a reasonableness test, not a guarantee of a whole new roof.
We give no insurance advice and recommend no insurer, adjuster or contractor. Read your own declarations page for the deductible structure and settlement basis, and ask your insurer to point to the policy language behind any decision you do not follow.