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.

In 2008, the Office commissioned another study to evaluate windstorm loss relativities for construction features involving the analysis of damage and loss data from the 2004 and 2005 Florida hurricanes.

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.