Homestead Status?

[yippie]

WOWAH EVERYONE!!! I spoke with a friend of mine at the insurance commissioner's office.

Citizens jumped on the gun when they sent those letters out. My understanding is the State will NOT let Citizens cancel, non-renew or refuse to insure anyone unless there is another company that will write them.

There is NO other company at this time that will write insurance of last resort.

Just hang tight for a little while. Citizens caused a HUGE problem when they sent those letters out and we need to wait and see what the ultimate outcome is.

 

[Miss Kitty]

WOWAH EVERYONE!!! I spoke with a friend of mine at the insurance commissioner's office.

Citizens jumped on the gun when they sent those letters out. My understanding is the State will NOT let Citizens cancel, non-renew or refuse to insure anyone unless there is another company that will write them.

There is NO other company at this time that will write insurance of last resort.

Just hang tight for a little while. Citizens caused a HUGE problem when they sent those letters out and we need to wait and see what the ultimate outcome is.

Thanks yippie. Have we met, yet?

 

[yippie]

OK. This is what I got from my friend:

Here is some information regarding the Citizens Homestead changes.



One of the results of the actions of the 2006 Legislative Session was to
amend F.S. 627.351. Effective March 1, 2007 the law goes into effect and
there are some dramatic changes regarding the homestead status of a
property to be insured or renewed with Citizens.



We have already started to receive calls. Citizens has mailed out about
200,000 letters to their insured's and some 500,000 more will be going
out in about a week.



The first of two dramatic changes will be a property that does not have
homestead status cannot be written or renewed unless the property owner
provides Citizens with a sworn affidavit stating the agent has made his
or her best effort to obtain coverage. The property also must have been
rejected for coverage by at least one authorized insurer and at least
three surplus lines insurers.



The second will be the manner in which any future assessments are levied
upon the Citizens policyholders. In the event of an assessment Citizens
will levy an immediate assessment against the premium of each
non-homestead policyholder, up to 10 percent of the premium. If this
assessment is insufficient to resolve the deficit, Citizens will levy an
additional assessment against ALL policyholders (including the
non-homestead policyholders up to 10 percent of the premium.


The reason the letters are going out this far in advance of the
effective date of the law change is to give policyholders and their
agents time to address the issue. The definition of homestead property
is contained in the F.A.Q.s


Agents should all be fully aware of every change as they have all been
kept fully informed by Citizens in their agent mailings and Bulletins.
If an agent calls us regarding this matter we should inform them they
should call their Citizens Service Representative.

You can start this process immediately and provide this to Citizens and you should be fine.