Welcome to the
Office of Insurance Regulation
Premium Discounts for
Hurricane Loss Mitigation
This page contains information
for consumers regarding premium
discounts that are offered by
insurers to policyholders who
harden or reinforce their homes
against wind damage.
What's the story?
In 2005 the Florida legislature
passed a law requiring all
residential property insurance
companies to file with the
Office of Insurance Regulation
(Office) a range of premium
discounts they offer customers
who live in homes of certain
construction types or who apply
loss mitigation devices (like
shutters) to their homes.
Accordingly, the Office sent the
following notice to all
residential property insurance
companies on December 8, 2005:
Informational
Memorandum - Premium Discounts
for Hurricane Loss Mitigation
instructing them to
electronically file their
discounts with the Office and to
start sending the list of
discounts to all new and renewed
policies starting on February 1,
2006.
Commissioner McCarty recognized
this was a good first step, but
thought the wide ranges of
discounts offered were not
helpful for Floridians who need
to know exactly what the
discounts would be to make an
informed decision on whether or
not to spend money on
retrofitting their homes. The
Commissioner also thought the
discounts should be higher, even
doubled because of an
engineering report conducted for
the Florida Department of
Community Affairs. The report
demonstrated that recognized
loss mitigation devices are much
more resistant to damage than
previous data indicated. Click
here if you would like to view
the research document on which
the new higher discounts are
based:
Report on Mitigation Discounts.
Therefore, in December 2006, the
Office promulgated
Rule 69O-170.017 which
required all property insurers
to provide to the Office higher
discounts in their insurance
rates for policyholders who had
recognized loss mitigation
devices on their homes no later
than March 1, 2007. The Rule
requires insurers to send a list
of those discounts with exact
dollar savings to all new and
renewed policyholders. Insurers
must start sending the “Notice
of Premium Discounts for
Hurricane Loss Mitigation” form
(OIR-B1-1655)
to new and renewing
policyholders starting September
5, 2007.
Once I know what my discounts
would be, how do I prove to the
insurance company I have these
features on my home?
Consumers can contract with a licensed inspector to examine
the home using the official
Uniform Mitigation Verification
Inspection Form. This form
must be accepted by all licensed
residential property insurance
companies in Florida.
In either case, the homeowner
should take the completed
inspection form to their agent
to begin processing the policy
discounts.
What if my agent or insurance
company refuses to accept the
inspection results submitted on
the proper form?
Call the Department of Financial
Services’ Consumer Hotline
1-877-MyFLCFO (877-693-5236) (In
Florida) or 850-413-3132
(Out-of-State) to report what
happened.