Mike Silvers, CPRC, Silvers Systems Inc., and FRSA Director of Technical Services
If you are reading this article, you have probably heard about SB 76, which made some changes to the Florida statutes that regulate property insurance. The law (as of July 1, 2021) was passed with the hope that it will help control rapidly increasing property insurance premiums. It is also intended to attract additional insurers to the Florida market by reducing the cost of claims. One of the major intentions of the legislation is to rein in the skyrocketing cost of roof damage claims. The free roof phenomenon is simply not sustainable. The legislature and the Governor were committed to making this happen. For roofing contractors, the message should be clear: avoid initiating an insurance claim or negotiating claims before a claim has been filed by the insured.
Keep in mind this is an insurance bill not a construction or roofing bill. It is titled “An act relating to insurance.”
This article does not offer legal advice (there are laws against that too), but I am going to attempt to clarify a few possible misconceptions and I will provide some of the actual language in the bill. Please seek legal advice when establishing your company’s specific policies. This article will not examine the changes dealing with attorney’s fees, claim filing requirements or Citizen’s insurance management structure. It will deal with the changes that have the largest direct impact on the roofing industry. Now, let’s look at some of the misinformation in the excerpts from the insurance industry. Below, I have referenced two excerpts from documents that have been circulating recently that attempt to interpret the statute’s new wording. Each excerpt is followed by my clarifications. Read More.
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