Moratorium Ends Nov. 30: Fla. Officials to Watch Non-renewals, Cancellations

Florida’s moratorium prohibiting insurers from canceling or non-renewing policies ends Nov. 30, and homeowners are bracing for notification letters. Tom Gallagher, Florida Chief Financial Officer, said his department will monitor non-renewals and cancellations.

After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, insurance companies discovered that they hadn’t properly assessed their risk and dropped or threatened to drop more than 1 million policies in Florida.

Although the Florida Insurance Commission anticipates fewer homeowners to receive non-renewal notices in December, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer of last resort could be inundated with thousands of new applications.

According to Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty about 50,000 homeowners statewide receive non-renewal notices each quarter. He said that usually the letters are mailed out on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

The temporary moratorium on insurance cancellations and non-renewals was issued by McCarty on Aug. 18. It initially affected only counties hit by Hurricane Charley, but was expanded two weeks later to the entire state after Hurricane Frances struck on Sept. 4.