Notice Of Insurance Policy Cancellation

Recently almost no day is going by without receiving a notification from the insurance carrier for cancellation of insurance coverage because of Windstorm rejection document. This documents, my flow, the statue needs to be handwritten and signed by the insured however,

If you have mortgage on the property,

regardless, whether your property is a condominium or townhouse or a single family, your mortgage company needs to provide a letter of acceptance on their own letter hand that they are accepting windstorm rejection on this policy. It is a very common practice that mortgage lenders are using master policy, windstorm coverage and accepting condominium unit policies without windstorm coverage.

The 2023 Florida Statutes (including Special Session C) states the following among others:

• An insurer issuing a residential property insurance policy must provide windstorm coverage.
• 2 (a) The coverage may be excluded only if: 1. When the policyholder is a natural person, the policyholder personally writes or types and provides to the insurer the following statement and signs his or her name, which must also be signed by every other named insured on the policy, and dated: “I do not want the insurance on my (home/mobile home/condominium unit) to pay for damage from windstorms. I will pay those costs. My insurance will not.”

2. When the policyholder is other than a natural person, the policyholder provides to the insurer on the policyholder’s letterhead the following statement that must be signed by the policyholder’s authorized representative and dated: “ (Name of entity) does not want the insurance on its (type of structure) to pay for damage from windstorms. (Name of eYes, because shentity) will be responsible for these costs. (Name of entity’s) insurance will not.”

3. If the structure insured by the policy is subject to a mortgage or lien, the policyholder must provide the insurer with a written statement from the mortgageholder or lienholder indicating that the mortgageholder or lienholder approves the policyholder electing to exclude windstorm coverage or hurricane coverage from his or her or its property insurance policy.

Why this became an issue?

In 2024, it is expected that we are going to have a very active hurricane season and possibly more than usual amount of damages. In order to make sure that everybody's properly covered and is not in a catastrophe situation insurance carriers are making sure that both the insured and the mortgage company provides the necessary documents per the Florida state statue requirements.

Here at Behar Insurance, we make sure that you are properly provided with all the information upfront, including the rejection forms. We provide your with the forms at the time of making your policy.

Please ask your mortgage broker to provide you this letter according to Florida Statute 627.712 PRIOR to the closing. If you do not have this letter, chances are that your policy will be canceled within the first 40 days. A new policy will include windstorm coverage which will require much larger premiums. If you don't act quickly, you may face with forced-placed insurance policy purchased by your mortgage lender, which may be three or four times more expensive than your current policy.

As always, please call us for your property insurance policy requirements.