Florida Statutes 627.0629 – Residential property insurance; rate filings
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(1) It is the intent of the Legislature that insurers provide savings to consumers who install or implement windstorm damage mitigation techniques, alterations, or solutions to their properties to prevent windstorm losses. A rate filing for residential property insurance must include actuarially reasonable discounts, credits, or other rate differentials, or appropriate reductions in deductibles, for properties on which fixtures or construction techniques demonstrated to reduce the amount of loss in a windstorm have been installed or implemented. The fixtures or construction techniques must include, but are not limited to, fixtures or construction techniques that enhance wind uplift prevention, roof strength, roof covering performance, roof-to-wall strength, wall-to-floor-to-foundation strength, opening protection, and window, door, and skylight strength. Credits, discounts, or other rate differentials, or appropriate reductions in deductibles, for fixtures and construction techniques that meet the minimum requirements of the Florida Building Code must be included in the rate filing. The office shall determine the discounts, credits, other rate differentials, and appropriate reductions in deductibles that reflect the full actuarial value of such revaluation, which may be used by insurers in rate filings. Effective October 1, 2023, each insurer subject to the requirements of this section must provide information on the insurer’s website describing the hurricane mitigation discounts available to policyholders. Such information must be accessible on, or through a hyperlink located on, the home page of the insurer’s website or the primary page of the insurer’s website for property insurance policyholders or applicants for such coverage in this state. On or before January 1, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, the office shall reevaluate and update the fixtures or construction techniques demonstrated to reduce the amount of loss in a windstorm and the discounts, credits, other rate differentials, and appropriate reductions in deductibles that reflect the full actuarial value of such fixtures or construction techniques. The office shall adopt rules and forms necessitated by such reevaluation.
(2)(a) A rate filing for residential property insurance made on or before the implementation of paragraph (b) may include rate factors that reflect the manner in which building code enforcement in a particular jurisdiction addresses the risk of wind damage; however, such a rate filing must also provide for variations from such rate factors on an individual basis based on an inspection of a particular structure by a licensed home inspector, which inspection may be at the cost of the insured.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 627.0629
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Rate: means the unit charge by which the measure of exposure or the amount of insurance specified in a policy of insurance or covered thereunder is multiplied to determine the premium. See Florida Statutes 627.041
- Rating organization: means every person, other than an authorized insurer, whether located within or outside this state, who has as his or her object or purpose the making of rates, rating plans, or rating systems. See Florida Statutes 627.041
(b) A rate filing for residential property insurance made more than 150 days after approval by the office of a building code rating factor plan submitted by a statewide rating organization shall include positive and negative rate factors that reflect the manner in which building code enforcement in a particular jurisdiction addresses risk of wind damage. The rate filing shall include variations from standard rate factors on an individual basis based on inspection of a particular structure by a licensed home inspector. If an inspection is requested by the insured, the insurer may require the insured to pay the reasonable cost of the inspection. This paragraph applies to structures constructed or renovated after the implementation of this paragraph.
(c) The premium notice shall specify the amount by which the rate has been adjusted as a result of this subsection and shall also specify the maximum possible positive and negative adjustments that are approved for use by the insurer under this subsection.
(3) A rate filing for mobile home owner insurance must include appropriate discounts, credits, or other rate differentials for mobile homes constructed to comply with American Society of Civil Engineers Standard ANSI/ASCE 7-88, adopted by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development on July 13, 1994, and that also comply with all applicable tie-down requirements provided by state law.
(4) The Legislature finds that separate consideration and notice of hurricane insurance premiums will assist consumers by providing greater assurance that hurricane premiums are lawful and by providing more complete information regarding the components of property insurance premiums. A rate filing for residential property insurance shall be separated into two components, rates for hurricane coverage and rates for all other coverages. A premium notice reflecting a rate implemented on the basis of such a filing shall separately indicate the premium for hurricane coverage and the premium for all other coverages.
(5) In order to provide an appropriate transition period, an insurer may implement an approved rate filing for residential property insurance over a period of years. Such insurer must provide an informational notice to the office setting out its schedule for implementation of the phased-in rate filing.
(6) Any rate filing that is based in whole or part on data from a computer model may not exceed 15 percent unless there is a public hearing.
(7) An insurer may implement appropriate discounts or other rate differentials of up to 10 percent of the annual premium to mobile home owners who provide to the insurer evidence of a current inspection of tie-downs for the mobile home, certifying that the tie-downs have been properly installed and are in good condition.
(8) A property insurance rate filing that includes any adjustments related to premiums paid to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund must include a complete calculation of the insurer’s catastrophe load, and the information in the filing may not be limited solely to recovery of moneys paid to the fund.
(9) An insurer may file with the office a personal lines residential property insurance rating plan that provides justified premium discounts, credits, or other rate differentials based on windstorm mitigation construction standards developed by an independent, nonprofit scientific research organization, if such standards meet the requirements of this section. Such plan must describe the manner in which the insurer will document the existence of the mitigation features and premium discounts, credits, or other rate differentials created under such plan.