Order Up: Next Florida Citizens Takeout Deadline is July 28

Florida regulators are reminding carriers that the deadline to participate in the November round of takeouts from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is fast approaching.

Carriers must submit an application by July 28, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said in a bulletin this week. The takeouts are part of Citizens’ statutorily mandated depopulation plan, designed to push more insureds back to the private market.

Citizens, created by lawmakers to be an insurer of last resort, has become the largest property insurer in Florida, with more than 1.3 million policies in force as of last week.

The takeout applications should include the number and types of policies requested; the Citizens account from which the policies would come; and other information. Insurers must also provide documentation showing their financial resources and business plans that indicate their ability to pay the additional claims. Takeout requirements can be seen here.

Citizens policyholders by law can remain with Citizens coverage only if the takeout offer is 20% higher than their current premiums. If insureds who receive a takeout offer do nothing, they will be moved to the new carrier, Citizens explained.

The Citizens depopulation plan has seen renewed interest from primary carriers this year, OIR said. Seven companies are participating in 2023, and the number of policies requested this year is already more than the total number requested in all of 2022. Some 184,000 policies were requested for takeout for the October assumption date.

Slide Insurance and Loggerhead Insurance were two of the carriers approved by OIR to offer takeouts, for the August 2023 round, with Slide offering to assume 25,000 policies and Loggerhead taking on up to 1,000.